I 


E 


REESE  LIBRARY 

IHK 

UNIVERSITY    OF   CALIFORNIA 

Received  L^/jfol^L  ,  188 . 

Accessions  No.  3  &^^&     Shelf-No. 


THE  TWO  SHIELDS. 
Schools  of  St.  George.     Elementary   Drawing.     Plate  I. 


THE  LAWS  OF  FESOLE. 

&  If  amittav 


ON  THE   ELEMENTARY   PRINCIPLES   AND 
PRACTICE    OF 

DRAWING   AND    PAINTING. 

AS   DETERMINED   BY   THE  TUSCAN   MASTERS. 

ARRANGED    FOR    THE    USE    OF    SCHOOLS. 


BY 

JOHN   BUSKIN,    LL.D., 

HONORARY  STUDENT  OF  CHRIST  CHUECH,  AND  SLADB  PBOFK8SOE  OF  PINK  A.BT8 


VOLUME  I. 


NEW    YORK: 
T^ILEY   &c    SONS, 
15  ASTOR  PLACE. 

1888. 


CONTENTS    OF   VOL.    L 


MMfll 
PREFACE, V 

CHAPTER  L 

ALL  GREAT  ART  IS   PRAISE, 1 

CHAPTER  I_ 

THE   THREE    DIVISIONS   OF   THE   ART  OF   PAINTING,  7 

CHAPTER  III. 
FIRST  EXERCISE  IN  RIGHT  LINES  I  THE  QUARTERING 

OF  ST.  GEORGE'S  SHIELD,   .....          17 

CHAPTER  IV. 

FIRST   EXERCISE   IN   CURVES  I    THE   CIRCLE,       .  •      25 

CHAPTER  V. 

OF   ELEMENTARY    FORM, 38 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.    I. 

CHAPTER  VI. 
OF  ELEMENTARY  ORGANIC   STRUCTURE,    ...  52 

CHAPTER  VII. 

OF  THE  TWELVE  ZODIACAL  COLOURS,        ...  74 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

OF  THE   RELATION   OF  COLOUR  TO   OUTLINE,     .  .  93 

CHAPTER  IX. 

OF  MAP  DRAWING, 112 

CHAPTER  X. 

OF  LIGHT  AND  SHADE      , 140 


PREFACE. 


THE  publication  of  this  book  has  been  delayed  by 
what  seemed  to  me  vexatious  accident,  or  (on  my  own 
part)  unaccountable  slowness  in  work :  but  the  delay 
thus  enforced  has  enabled  me  to  bring  the  whole  into  a 
form  which  I  do  not  think  there  will  be  any  reason  after- 
wards to  modify  in  any  important  particular,  containing 
a  system  of  instruction  in  art  generally  applicable  in  the 
education  of  gentlemen ;  and  securely  elementary  in  that 
of  professional  artists.  It  has  been  made  as  simple  as  I 
can  in  expression,  and  is  specially  addressed,  in  the  main 
teaching  of  it,  to  young  people  (extending  the  range  of 
that  term  to  include  students  in  our  universities) ;  and  ^t 
will  be  so  addressed  to  them,  that  if  they  have  not  the 
advantage  of  being  near  a  master,  they  may  teach  them- 
selves, by  careful  reading,  what  ia  essential  to  their 
progress.  But  I  have  added  always  to  such  initial  princi- 
ples, those  which  it  is  desirable  to  state  for  the  guidance 
of  advanced  scholars,  or  the  explanation  of  the  practice 
of  exemplary  masters. 

The  exercises  given  in  this  book,  when  their  series  is 


VI  PREFACE. 

completed,  will  form  a  code  of  practice  which  may  advisa- 
bly be  rendered  imperative  on  the  youth  of  both  sexes 
who  show  disposition  for  drawing.  In  general,  youths 
and  girls  who  do  not  wish  to  draw  should  not  be  com- 
pelled to  draw ;  but  when  natural  disposition  exists, 
strong  enough  to  render  wholesome  discipline  endurable 
with  patience,  every  well-trained  youth  and  girl  ought  to 
be  taught  the  elements  of  drawing,  as  of  music,  early, 
and  accurately. 

To  teach  them  inaccurately  is  indeed,  strictly  speaking, 
not  to  teach  them  at  all ;  or  worse  than  that,  to  prevent 
the  possibility  of  their  ever  being  taught.  The  ordinary 
methods  of  water-color  sketching,  chalk  drawing,  an! 
the  like,  now  so  widely  taught  by  second-rate  masters, 
simply  prevent  the  pupil  from  ever  understanding  the 
qualities  of  great  art,  through  the  whole  of  his  after-life. 

It  will  be  found  also  that  the  system  of  practice  here 
proposed  differs  in  many  points,  and  in  some  is  directly 
adverse,  to  that  which  has-been  for  some  years  instituted 
in  our  public  schools  of  art.  It  might  be  supposed  that 
this  contrariety  was  capricious  or  presumptuous,  unless 
I  gave  my  reasons  for  it,  by  specifying  the  errors  of  the 
existing  popular  system. 

The  first  error  in  that  system  is  the  forbidding  accuracy 
of  measurement,  and  enforcing  the  practice  of  guessing  at 
the  size  of  objects.  Now  it  is  indeed  often  well  to  outline 
at  first  by  the  eye,  and  afterwards  to  correct  the  drawing  by 
measurement ;  but  under  the  present  method,  the  student 


PREFACE.  Vll 

finishes  his  inaccurate  drawing  to  the  end,  and  his  mind 
is  thus,  during  the  whole  progress  of  bis  work,  accus- 
tomed to  falseness  in  every  contour.  Such  a  practice  is 
not  to  be  characterized  as  merely  harmful, — it  is  ruinous. 
No  student  who  has  sustained  the  injury  of  being  thus 
accustomed  to  false  contours,  can  ever  recover  precision 
of  sight.  Nor  is  this  all :  he  cannot  so  much  as  attain 
to  the  first  conditions  of  art  judgment.  For  a  fine  work 
of  art  differs  from  a  vulgar  one  by  subtleties  of  line  which 
the  most  perfect  measurement  is  not,  alone,  delicate 
enough  to  detect;  but  to  which  precision  of  attempted 
measurement  directs  the  attention ;  while  the  security  of 
boundaries,  within  which  maximum  error  must  be  re- 
strained, enables  the  hand  gradually  to  approach  the  per- 
fectness  which  instruments  cannot.  Gradually,  the  mind 
then  becomes  conscious  of  the  beauty  which,  even  after 
this  honest  effort,  remains  inimitable ;  and  the  faculty  of 
discrimination  increases  alike  through  failure  and  success. 
But  when  the  true  contours  are  voluntarily  and  habitu- 
ally departed  from,  the  essential  qualities  of  every  beauti- 
ful form  are  necessarily  lost,  and  the  student  remains 
forever  unaware  of  their  existence. 

The  second  error  in  the  existing  system  is  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  execution  of  finished  drawings  in  light  and 
shade,  before  the  student  has  acquired  delicacy  of  sight 
enough  to  observe  their  gradations.  It  requires  the 
most  careful  and  patient  teaching  to  develop  this  faculty; 
and  it  can  only  be  developed  at  all  by  rapid  and  various 


viii  PREFACE. 

practice  from  natural  objects,  during  which  the  attention 
of  the  student  must  be  directed  only  to  the  facts  of  the 
shadows  themselves,  and  not  at  all  arrested  on  methods 
of  producing  them.  He  may  even  be  allowed  to  produce 
them  as  he  likes,  or  as  he  can ;  the  thing  required  of  him 
being  only  that  the  shade  be  of  the  right  darkness,  of  the 
right  shape,  and  in  the  right  relation  to  other  shades 
round  it;  and  not  at  all  that  it  shall  be  prettily  cross- 
hatched,  or  deceptively  transparent.  But  at  present,  the 
only  virtues  required  in  shadow  are  that  it  shall  be  pretty 
in  texture  and  picturesquely  effective;  and  it  is  not 
thought  of  the  smallest  consequence  that  it  should  be  in 
the  right  place,  or  of  the  right  depth.  And  the  conse- 
quence is  that  the  student  remains,  when  he  becomes  a 
painter,  a  mere  manufacturer  of  conventional  shadows  of 
agreeable  texture,  and  to  the  end  of  his  life  incapable  of 
perceiving  the  conditions  of  the  simplest  natural  passage 
of  chiaroscuro. 

The  third  error  in  the  existing  code,  and  in  ultimately 
destructive  power,  the  worst,  is  the  construction  of  en- 
tirely symmetrical  or  balanced  forms  for  exercises  in 
ornamental  design ;  whereas  every  beautiful  form  in  this 
world,  is  varied  in  the  minutiae  of  the  balanced  sides. 
Place  the  most  beautiful  of  human  forms  in  exact  sym- 
metry of  position,  and  curl  the  hair  into  equal  curls  on 
both  sides,  arid  it  will  become  ridiculous,  or  monstrous. 
Nor  can  any  law  of  beauty  be  nobly  observed  without 
occasional  wilfulness  of  violation. 


PREFACE.  IX 

The  moral  effect  of  these  monstrous  conditions  of 
ornament  on  the  mind  of  the  modern  designer  is  very 
singular.  I  have  found,  in  past  experience  in  the  Work- 
ing Men's  College,  and  recently  at  Oxford,  that  the 
English  student  must  at  present  of  necessity  be  inclined 
to  one  of  two  opposite  errors,  equally  fatal.  Either  he 
will  draw  things  mechanically  and  symmetrically  alto- 
gether, and  represent  the  two  sides  of  a  leaf,  or  of  a  plant, 
as  if  he  had  cut  them  in  one  profile  out  of  a  doubled  piece 
of  paper ;  or  he  will  dash  and  scrabble  for  effect,  without 
obedience  to  law  of  any  kind :  and  I  find  the  greatest 
difficulty,  on  the  one  hand,  in  making  ornamental 
draughtsmen  draw  a  leaf  of  any  shape  which  it  could 
possibly  have  lived  in  ;  and,  on  the  other,  in  making  land- 
scape draughtsmen  draw  a  leaf  of  any  shape  at  all.  So 
that  the  process  by  which  great  work  is  achieved,  and  by 
which  only  it  can  be  achieved,  is  in  both  directions  an- 
tagonistic to  the  present  English  mind.  Real  artists  are 
absolutely  submissive  to  law,  and  absolutely  at  ease  in 
fancy ;  while  we  are  at  once  wilful  and  dull ;  resolved  to 
have  our  own  way,  but  when  we  have  got  it,  we  cannot 
walk  two  yards  without  holding  by  a  railing. 

The  tap-root  of  all  this  mischief  is  in  the  endeavor  to 
produce  some  ability  in  the  student  to  make  money  by 
designing  for  manufacture.  No  student  who  makes  this 
his  primary  object  will  ever  be  able  to  design  at  all :  and 
the  very  words  "  School  of  Design  "  involve  the  profound- 
est  of  Art  fallacies.  Drawing  may  be  taught  by  tutors : 


X  PREFACE. 

but  Design  only  by  Heaven;  and  to  every  scholar  who 
thinks  to  sell  his  inspiration,  Heaven  refuses  its  help. 

To  what  kind  of  scholar,  and  on  what  conditions,  that 
help  has  been  given  hitherto,  and  may  yet  be  hoped  for, 
is  written  with  unevadable  clearness  in  the  history  of 
the  Arts  of  the  Past.  And  this  book  is  called  "  The  Laws 
of  Fesole"  because  the  entire  system  of  possible  Christian 
Art  is  founded  on  the  principles  established  by  Giotto  in 
Florence,  he  receiving  them  from  the  Attic  Greeks 
through  Cimabue,  the  last  of  their  disciples,  and  engraft- 
ing them  on  the  existing  art  of  the  Etruscans,  the  race 
from  which  both  his  master  and  he  were  descended. 

In  the  centre  of  Florence,  the  last  great  work  of  native 
Etruscan  architecture,  her  Baptistery,  and  the  most  perfect 
work  of  Christian  architecture,  her  Campanile,  stand 
within  a  hundred  paces  of  each  other :  and  from  the  foot 
of  that  Campanile,  the  last  conditions  of  design  which 
preceded  the  close  of  Christian  art  are  seen  in  the  dome 
of  Brunelleschi.  Under  the  term  "  laws  of  Fesole,"  there- 
fore, may  be  most  strictly  and  accurately  arranged  every 
principle  of  art,  practised  at  its  purest  source,  from  the 
twelfth  to  the  fifteenth  century  inclusive.  And  the  pur- 
pose of  this  book  is  to  teach  our  English  students  of  art 
the  elements  of  these  Christian  laws,  as  distinguished 
from  the  Infidel  laws  of  the  spuriously  classic  school, 
under  which,  of  late,  our  students  have  been  exclusively 
trained. 

Nevertheless,  in  this  book  the  art  of  Giotto  and  An- 


PREFACE.  xi 

gelico  is  not  taught  because  it  is  Christian,  but  because  it 
is  absolutely  true  and  good:  neither  is  the  Infidel  art  of 
Palladio  and  Giulio  Romano  forbidden  because  it  is 
Pagan  ;  but  because  it  is  false  and  bad ;  and  has  entirely 
destroyed  not  only  our  English  schools  of  art,  but  all 
others  in  which  it  has  ever  been  taught,  or  trusted  in. 

Whereas  the  methods  of  draughtsmanship  established 
by  the  Florentines,  in  true  fulfilment  of  Etruscan  and 
Greek  tradition,  are  insuperable  in  execution,  and  eternal 
in  principle ;  and  all  that  I  shall  have  occasion  here  to  add 
to  them  will  be  only  such  methods  of  their  application  to 
landscape  as  were  not  needed  in  the  day  of  their  first  in- 
vention ;  and  such  explanation  of  their  elementary  prac- 
tice as,  in  old  time,  was  given  orally  by  the  master. 

It  will  not  be  possible  to  give  a  sufficient  number  of 
examples  for  advanced  students  (or  on  the  scale  necessary 
for  some  purposes)  within  the  compass  of  this  hand-book  ; 
and  I  shall  publish  therefore  together  with  it,  as  I  can 
prepare  them,  engravings  or  lithographs  of  the  examples 
in  my  Oxford  schools,  on  folio  sheets,  sold  separately. 
But  this  hand-book  will  contain  all  that  was  permanently 
valuable  in  my  former  Elements  of  Drawing,  together 
with  such  further  guidance  as  my  observance  of  the  result 
of  those  lessons  has  shown  me  to  be  necessary.  The; 
work  will  be  completed  in  twelve  numbers,  each  contain- 
ing at  least  two  engravings,  the  whole  forming,  when 
completed,  two  volumes  of  the  ordinary  size  of  my  pub- 
lished works;  the  first,  treating  mostly  of  drawing,  for 


Xll  PREFACE. 

beginners;  and  the  second,  of  color,  for  advanced  pupils. 
I  hope  also  that  I  may  prevail  on  the  author  of  the  excel- 
lent little  treatise  on  Mathematical  Instruments  (Weale's 

* 

Rudimentary  Series,  'No.  82),  to  publish  a  lesson-book 
with  about  one-fourth  of  the  contents  of  that  formidably 
comprehensive  volume,  and  in  larger  print,  for  the  use  of 
students  of  art ;  omitting  therefrom  the  descriptions  of 
instruments  useful  only  to  engineers,  and  without  forty- 
eight  pages  of  advertisements  at  the  end  of  it.  Which, 
if  I  succeed  in  persuading  him  to  do,  I  shall  be  able  to 
make  permanent  reference  to  his  pages  for  elementary 
lessons  on  construction. 

Many  other  things  I  meant  to  say,  and  advise,  in  this 
Preface ;  but  h'nd  that  were  I  to  fulfil  such  intentions,  my 
Preface  would  become  a  separate  book,  and  had  better 
therefore  end  itself  forthwith,  only  desiring  the  reader  to 
observe,  in  sum,  that  the  degree  of  success,  and  of 
pleasure,  which  he  will  finally  achieve,  in  these  or  any 
other  art  exercises  on  a  sound  foundation,  will  virtually 
depend  on  the  degree  in  which  he  desires  to  understand 
the  merit  of  others,  and  to  make  his  own  talents  perma- 
nently useful.  The  folly  of  most  amateur  work  is  chiefly 
in  its  selfishness,  and  self-contemplation ;  it  is  far  better 
not  to  be  able  to  draw  at  all,  than  to  waste  life  in  the  ad- 
miration of  one's  own  littlenesses; — or,  worse,  to  with- 
draw, by  merely  amusing  dexterities,  the  attention  of 
other  persons  from  noble  art.  It  is  impossible  that  the 
performance  of  an  amateur  can  ever  be  otherwise  than 


PREFACE.  xiii 

feeble  in  itself;  and  the  virtue  of  it  consists  only  in 
having  enabled  the  student,  by  the  effect  of  its  production, 
to  form  true  principles  of  judgment,  and  direct  his  limited 
powers  to  useful  purposes. 

BRANTWOOD,  31st  Jvly,  1877. 


THE  LAWS  OF  F^SOLE, 


CHAPTER  I. 

ALL    GREAT    AKT    IS    PRAISE. 

1.  THE  art  of  man  is  the  expression  of  liis  rational  and 
disciplined  delight  in  the  forms  and  laws  of  the  creation        < 
of  which  he  forms  a  part. 

2.  In  all  first  definitions  of  very  great  things,  there 
must  be  some  obscurity  and  want  of  strictness ;  the  at- 
tempt to  make  them  too  strict  will  only  end  in  wider 
obscurity.     We  may  indeed  express   to  our   friend   the 
rational  and  disciplined  pleasure  we  have  in  a  landscape, 
yet  not  be  artists:  but  it  is  true,  nevertheless,  that  all  art 
is  the  skilful  expression  of  such  pleasure;  not  always,  it 
may  be,  in  a  thing  seen,  but  only  in  a  law  felt ;  yet  still, 
examined  accurately,  always  in  the   Creation,  of  which 
the  creature   forms  a  part ;    and   not   in   itself  merely. 
Thus  a  lamb  at  play,  rejoicing  in  its  own  life  only,  is  not 
an  artist ; — but  the  lamb's  shepherd,  carving  the  aieco  of 
timber  which  he  lays  for  his  door-lintel  into  beads,  is  ex- 
pressing, however  unconsciously,  his  pleasure  in  the  laws 
of  time,  measure,  and  order,  by  which  the  earth  moves, 
and  the  sun  abides  in  heaven. 


2  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

3.  So  far  as  reason  governs,  or  discipline  restrains,  the 
art  even  of   animals,   it  becomes  hum  an,   in  those  vir- 
tues ;  but  never,  I  believe,  perfectly  human,  because  it 
never,  so  far  as  I  have  seen,  expresses  even  an  uncon- 
scious delight  in  divine  laws.     A  nightingale's  song    is 
indeed  exquisitely  divided;  but  only,  it  seems  to  me,  as 
the  ripples  of  a  stream,  by  a  law  of  which  the  waters  and 
the  bird  are  alike  unconscious.     The  bird  is  conscious 
indeed  of  joy  and  love,  which  the  waters  are  not;  but 
(thanks  be  to   God)  joy  and  love  are  not  Arts ;  nor  are 
they  limited  to  Humanity.     But  the  love-song  becomes 
Art,  when,  by  reason  and  discipline,  the  singer  has  be- 
come conscious  of  the  ravishment  in  its  divisions  to  the 
lute. 

4.  Farther  to  complete  the  range  of  our  definition,  it  is 
to  be  remembered  that  we  express  our  delight  in  a  beau- 
tiful or  lovely  thing  no  less  by  lament  for  its  loss,  than 
gladness  in  its  presence,  much  art  is  therefore  tragic  or 
pensive ;  but  all  true  art  is  praise.* 

5.  There  is  no  exception  to  this  great  law,  for  even 

*  As  soon  as  the  artist  forgets  his  function  of  praise  in  that  of  imita- 
tion, his  art  is  lost.  His  business  is  to  give,  by  any  means,  however 
imperfect,  the  idea  of  a  beautiful  thing  ;  not,  by  any  means,  however 
perfect,  the  realization  of  an  ugly  one.  In  the  early  and  vigorous  days 
of  Art,  she  endeavored  to  praise  the  saints,  though  she  made  but 
awkward  figures  of  them.  Gradually  becoming  able  to  represent  the 
human  body  with  accuracy,  she  pleased  herself  greatly  at  first  in  this 
new  power,  and  for  about  a  century  decorated  all  her  buildings  with 
human  bodies  in  different  positions.  But  there  was  nothing  to  be 
praised  in  persons  who  had  no  other  virtue  than  that  of  possessing 
bodies,  and  no  other  means  of  expression  than  unexpected  manners  of 
crossing  their  legs.  Surprises  of  this  nature  necessarily  have  their 
limits,  and  the  Arts  founded  on  Anatomy  expired  when  the  changes  of 
posture  were  exhausted. 


I.   ALL  GREAT  ART  IS  PRAISE.  3 

caricature  is  only  artistic  in  conception  of  the  beauty  of 
which  it  exaggerates  the  absence.  Caricature  by  persons 
who  cannot  conceive  beauty,  is  monstrous  in  proportion 
to  that  dulness ;  and,  even  to  the  best  artists,  persever- 
ance in  the  habit  of  it  is  fatal. 

6.  Fix,  then,  this  in  your  mind  as  the  guiding  princi- 
ple of  all  right  practical  labor,  and  source  of  all  healthful 
life  energy, — that  your  art  is  to  be  the  praise  of  some- 
thing that  you  love.  It  may  be  only  the  praise  of  a 
shell  or  a  stone ;  it  may  be  the  praise  of  a  hero  ;  it  may 
be  the  praise  of  God  :  your  rank  as  a  living  creature  is 
determined  by  the  height  and  breadth  of  your  love ;  but, 
be  you  small  or  great,  what  healthy  art  is  possible  to  you 
must  be  the  expression  of  your  true  delight  in  a  real 
thing,  better  than  the  art.  You  may  think,  perhaps, 
that  a  bird's  nest  by  William  Hunt  is  better  than  a  real 
bird's  nest.  We  indeed  pay  a  large  sum  for  the  one,  and 
scarcely  care  to  look  for,  or  save,  the  other.  But  it  would 
be  better  for  us  that  all  the  pictures  in  the  world  per- 
ished, than  that  the  birds  should  cease  to  build  nests. 

And  it  is  precisely  in  its  expression  of  this  inferiority 
that  the  drawing  itself  becomes  valuable.  It  is  because 
a  photograph  cannot  condemn  itself,  that  it  is  worthless. 
The  glory  of  a  great  picture  is  in  its  shame ;  and  the 
charm  of  it,  in  speaking  the  pleasure  of  a  great  heart, 
that  there  is  something  better  than  picture.  Also  it 
speaks  with  the  voices  of  many :  the  efforts  of  thousands 
dead,  and  their  passions,  are  in  the  pictures  of  their  chil- 
dren to  day.  Not  with  the  skill  of  an  hour,  nor  of  a  life, 
nor  of  a  century,  but  with  the  help  of  numberless  souls,  a 
beautiful  thing  must  be  done.  And  the  obedience,  and 
the  understanding,  and  the  pure  natural  passion,  and  the 


4  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

perseverance,  in  secula  seculorum,  as  they  must  be  given 
to  produce  a  picture,  so  they  must  be  recognized,  that  we 
may  perceive  one. 

7.  This  is  the  main  lesson  I  have  been  teaching,  so  far 
as  I  have  been  able,  through  my  whole  life :  Only  that 
picture  is  noble,  which  is  painted  in  love  of  the  reality. 
It  is  a  law  which  embraces  the  highest  scope  of  Art ;  it 
is  one  also  which  guides  in  security  the  iirst  steps  of   it. 
If  you  desire    to  draw,   that  you  may   represent    some- 
thing that  yon  care  for,  you  will  advance  swiftly  and  safely. 
If  you  desire  to  draw,  that  you  may  make  a  beautiful 
drawing,  you  will  never  make  one. 

8.  And  this  simplicity  of  purpose  is  farther  useful  in 
closing  all  discussions  of  the  respective  grace  or  admira- 
bleness   of  method.     The   best   painting   is   that    which 
most  completely  represents  what  it  undertakes  to  repre- 
sent, as  the  best  language  is  that  which  most  clearly  says 
what  it  undertakes  to  say. 

9.  Given  the  materials,  the  limits  of  time,  and  the  con- 
ditions of  place,  there  is  only  one  proper   method    of 
painting.*     And  since,  if  painting  is  to  be  entirely  good, 
the  materials  of  it  must  be  the  best  possible,  and  the  con- 
ditions of  time  and  place  entirely  favorable,  there  is  only 
one   manner   of  entirely  good   painting.     The   so-called 
*  styles'  of  artists  are  either  adaptations  to  imperfections 
of  material,  or  indications  of  imperfection  in  their  own 
power,   or    the    knowledge    of    their    day.     The    great 

*  In  sculpture,  tlie  materials  are  necessarily  BO  varied,  and  the  cir< 
cumstances  of  place  so  complex,  that  it  would  seem  like  an  affected 
stretching  of  principle  to  say  there  is  only  one  proper  method  of  sculp- 
ture :  yet  this  is  also  true,  and  any  handling  of  marble  differing  from 
that  of  Greek  workmen  is  inferior  by  such  difference 


I.   ALL   GREAT   ART  IS   PRAISE.  5 

painters  are  like  each  other  in  their  strength,  and  diverse 
only  in  weakness. 

10.  The  last  aphorism  is  true  even  with  respect  to  the 
dispositions  which  induce  the   preference  of   particular 
characters  in  the  subject.     Perfect  art  perceives  and  re- 
flects the  whole  of  nature  :  imperfect  art  is  fastidious, 
and   impertinently   prefers   and   rejects.     The   foible   of 
Correggio  is  grace,  and  of  Mantegna,  precision  :  Veron- 
ese is  narrow  in  his  gayety,  Tiiitoret  in  his  gloom,  and 
Turner  in  his  light. 

11.  But,  if  we   ~know  our  weakness,  it    becomes   our 
strength  ;  and  the  joy  of  every  painter,  by  which   he  is 
made  narrow,  is  also  the  gift  by  which  lie  is  made  de- 
lightful, so  long  as  he  is  modest  in  the  thought  of  his  dis- 
tinction from  others,  and  no  less  severe  in  the  indulgence, 
than  careful  in  the  cultivation,  of  his  proper  instincts. 
Recognizing  his  place,  as  but  one  quaintly-veined  pebble 
in  the  various  pavement, — one  richly-fused  fragment,  in 
the  vitrail  of  life, — he  will  find,   in  his  distinctness,  his 
glory  and  his  use  ;  but  destroys  himself  in  demanding 
that  all  men  should  stand  within  his   compass,   or   see 
through  his  color. 

12.  The  differences  in  style  instinctively  caused  by  per- 
sonal character  are  however  of  little  practical  moment, 
compared  to  those  which  are  rationally  adopted,  in  adap- 
tation to  circumstance. 

Of  these  variously  conventional  and  inferior  modes  of 
work,  we  will  examine  such  as  deserve  note  in  their 
proper  place.  But  we  must  begin  by  learning  the  man- 
ner of  work  which,  from  the  elements  of  it  to  the  end,  is 
completely  right,  and  common  to  all  the  masters  of  con- 


6  THE   LAWS  OF   FESOLE. 

gummate  schools.  In  whom  these  two  great  conditions  of 
excellence  are  always  discernible, — that  they  conceive 
more  beautiful  things  than  they  can  paint,  and  desire 
only  to  be  praised  in  so  far  as  they  can  represent  these, 
for  subjects  of  higher  praising. 


CHAPTER  H. 

THE   THREE   DIVISIONS    OF    THE    ART   OF    PAINTING. 

1.  IN   order   to   produce   a   completely   representative 
picture  of  any  object  on  a  flat  surface,  we  must  outline  it, 
color  it,  and  shade  it.     Accordingly,  in  order  to  become  a 
complete  artist,  you  must  learn  these   three   following 
modes  of  skill  completely.     First,  how  to  outline  spaces 
with  accurate  and  delicate  lines.      Secondly,  how  to  till 
the   outlined   spaces  with   accurate,   and   delicately  laid, 
color.     Thirdly,  how  to  gradate  the  colored  spaces,  so  as 
to  express,  accurately  and  delicately,  relations  of  light 
and  shade. 

2.  By  the  word  <  accurate '  in  these  sentences,  I  mean 
nearly  the  same  thing  as  if  I  had  written  <  true ;'   but 
yet  I  mean  a  little  more  than  verbal  truth  :  for  in  many 
cases,  it  is  possible  to  give  the  strictest  truth  in  words 
without  any  painful  care  ;  but  it  is  not  possible  to  be  true 
in  lines,  without  constant   care  or  accuracy.     We  may 
say,  for  instance,  without  laborious  attention,   that  the 
tower  of  Garisenda  is  a  hundred  and  sixty  feet  high,  and 

f  leans  nine  feet  out  of  the  perpendicular.  But  we  could 
not  draw  the  line  representing  this  relation  of  nine  feet 
horizontal  to  a  hundred  and  sixty  vertical,  without  ex- 
treme care. 

In  other  cases,  even  by  the  strictest  attention,  it  is  not 
possible  to  give  complete  or  strict  truth  in  words.     We 


8  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

could  not,  by  any  number  of  words,  describe  the  color  of 
a  riband  so  as  to  enable  a  mercer  to  match  it  without  see- 
ing it.  But  an  l  accurate '  colorist  can  convey  the  re- 
quired intelligence  at  once,  with  a  tint  on  paper.  Neither 
would  it  be  possible,  in  language,  to  explain  the  difference 
in  gradations  of  shade  which  the  eye  perceives  between  a 
beautifully  rounded  and  dimpled  chin,  and  a  more  or  less 
determinedly  angular  one.  But  on  the  artist's  '  accuracy  ' 
in  distinguishing  and  representing  their  relative  depths, 
not  in  one  feature  only,  but  in  the  harmony  of  all,  depend 
his  powers  of  expressing  the  charm  of  beauty,  or  the 
force  of  character ;  and  his  means  of  enabling  us  to  know 
Joan  of  Arc  from  Fair  Rosamond. 

3.  Of  these  three  tasks,  outline,  color,  and  shade,  out- 
line, in  perfection,  is  the  most  difficult ;  but  students 
must  begin  with  that  task,  and  are  masters  when  they 
can  see  to  the  end  of  it,  though  they  never  reach  it. 

To  color  is  easy  if  you  can  see  color ;  and  impossible  if 
you  cannot.* 

To  shade  is  very  difficult ;  and  the  perfections  of  light 
and  shadow  have  been  rendered  by  few  masters  ;  but  in 
the  degree  sufficient  for  good  work,  it  is  within  the  reach 
of  every  student  of  fair  capacity  who  takes  pains. 

5.  The  order  in  which  students  usually  learn  these 
three  processes  of  art  is  in  the  inverse  ratio  of  their  diffi- 
culty. They  begin  with  outline,  proceed  to  shade,  and 
conclude  in  color.  While,  naturally,  any  clever  house 
decorator  can  color,  and  any  patient  Academy  pupil 
shade ;  but  Raphael  at  his  full  strength  is  plagued  with 

*  A  great  many  people  do  not  know  green  from  red  ;  and  such  kind 
of  persons  are  apt  to  feel  it  their  duty  to  write  scientific  treatises  on 
color,  edifying  to  the  art-world. 


II.    THE   THREE   DIVISIONS   OF   PAINTING.  9 

his  outline,  and  tries  half  a  dozen  backwards  and  forwards 
before  he  pricks  his  chosen  one  down.* 

Nevertheless,  both  the  other  exercises  should  be  prac- 
tised with  this  of  outline,  from  the  beginning.  We  must 
outline  the  space  which  is  to  be  filled  with  color,  or  ex- 
plained by  shade ;  but  we  cannot  handle  the  brush  too 
soon,  nor  too  long  continue  the  exercises  of  the  lead  f 
point.  Every  system  is  imperfect  which  pays  more  than 
a  balanced  and  equitable  attention  to  any  one  of  the  three 
skills,  for  all  are  necessary  in  equal  perfection  to  the  com- 
pleteness of  power.  There  will  indeed  be  found  great 
differences  between  the  faculties  of  different  pupils  to  ex- 
press themselves  by  one  or  other  of  these  methods  ;  and 
the  natural  disposition  to  give  character  by  delineation, 
charm  by  color,  or  force  by  shade,  may  be  discreetly  en- 
couraged by  the  master,  after  moderate  skill  has  been 
attained  in  the  collateral  exercises.  But  the  first  condi- 
tion of  steady  progress  for  every  pupil — no  matter  what 
their  gifts,  or  genius — is  that  they  should  be  taught  to 
draw  a  calm  and  true  outline,  entirely  decisive,  and  ad- 
mitting no  error  avoidable  by  patience  and  attention. 

7.  We  will  begin  therefore  with  the  simplest  conceiv- 
able practice  of  this  skill,  taking  for  subject  the  two  ele- 
mentary forms  which  the  shepherd  of  Fesole  gives  us 
(Fig.  1),  supporting  the  desk  of  the  master  of  Geometry. 

You  will  find  the  original   bas-relief  represented  very 
sufficiently  in  the  nineteenth  of  the  series  of  photograph- 
from  the  Tower  of  Giotto,  and  may  thus  for  yoursel 
ascertain  the  accuracy  of  this  outline,  which  otherwise 

*  Beautiful  and  true  shade  can  be  produced  by  a  machine  fitted  to 
the  surface,  but  no  machine  can  outline. 
f  See  explanation  of  term,  p.  26. 


10 


THE    LAWS    OF   FESOLE. 


you  might  suppose  careless,  in  that  the  suggested  square 
is  not  a  true  one,  having  two  acute  and  two  obtuse  angles  ; 
nor  is  it  set  upright,  but  with  the  angle  on  your  right 
hand  higher  than  the  opposite  one,  so  as  partly  to  comply 
with  the  slope  of  the  desk.  But  this  is  one  of  the  first 
signs  that  the  sculpture  is  by  a  master's  hand.  And  the 
first  thing  a  modern  restorer  would  do,  would  be  to  u  cor- 


FIG.  l. 

rect  the  mistake,"  and  give  you,  instead,  the,  to  him,  more 
satisfactory  arrangement.  (Fig.  2.) 

8.  We  must  not,  however,  permit  ourselves,  in  the  be- 
ginning of  days,  to  draw  inaccurate  squares  ;  such  liberty 
is  only  the  final  reward  of  obedience,  and  the  generous 
breaking  of  law,  only  to  be  allowed  to  the  loyal. 

Take  your  compasses,  therefore,  and  your  ruler,  and 
smooth  paper  over  which  your  pen  will  glide  unchecked. 
And  take  above  all  things  store  of  patience ;  and  then, — 
but  for  what  is  to  be  done  then,  the  directions  had  best  be 


II.   THE  THREE   DIVISIONS  OF  PAINTING.  11 

reserved  to  a  fresh  chapter,  which,  as  it  will  begin  a  group 
of  exercises  of  which  you  will  not  at  once  perceive  the  in- 


FIG.  2. 


tention,  had  better,  I  think,  be  preceded  by  this  following 
series  of  general  aphorisms,  which  I  wrote  for  a  young 
Italian  painter,  as  containing  what  was  likely  to  be  most 
useful  to  him  in  briefest  form  ;  and  which  for  the  same 
reason  I  here  give,  before  entering  on  specific  practice. 


APHORISMS  . 


The  greatest  art  represents  every  thing  with  absolute 
sincerity,  as  far  as  it  is  able.  But  it  chooses  the  best 
things  to  represent,  and  it  places  them  in  the  best  order 
in  which  they  can  be  seen.  You  can  only  judge  of  what 
is  lest,  in  process  of  time,  by  the  bettering  of  your  own 
character.  What  is  true,  you  can  learn  now,  if  you  will. 


12  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

II. 

Make  your  studies  always  of  the  real  size  of  things.  A 
man  is  to  be  drawn  the  size  of  a  man,  and  a  cherry  the 
size  of  a  cherry. 

'  But  I  cannot  draw  an  elephant  his  real  size '  ? 

There  is  no  occasion  for  you  to  draw  an  elephant. 

'  But  nobody  can  draw  Mont  Blanc  his  real  size '  ? 

No.  Therefore  nobody  can  draw  Mont  Blanc  at  all ; 
but  only  a  distant  view  of  Mont  Blanc.  You  may  also 
draw  a  distant  view  of  a  man,  and  of  an  elephant,  if  you 
like;  but  you  must  take  care  that  it  is  seen  to  be  so,  and 
not  mistaken  for  a  drawing  of  a  pigmy,  or  a  mouse,  near. 

'But  there  is  a  great  deal  of  good  miniature  painting'? 

Yes,  and  a  great  deal  of  fine  cameo-cutting.  But  I  am 
going  to  teach  you  to  be  a  painter,  not  a  locket-decorator, 
or  medallist. 

m. 

Direct  all  your  first  efforts  to  acquire  the  power  of 
drawing  an  absolutely  accurate  outline  of  any  object,  of 
its  real  size,  as  it  appears  at  a  distance  of  not  less  tban 
twelve  "feet  from  the  eye.  All  greatest  art  represents 
objects  at  not  less  than  this  distance;  because  you  cannot 
see  the  full  stature  and  action  of  a  man  if  you  go  nearer 
him.  The  difference  between  the  appearance  of  any 
thing — say  a  bird,  fruit,  or  leaf — at  a  distance  of  twelve 
feet  or  more,  and  its  appearance  looked  at  closely,  is  the 
first  difference  also  between  Titian's  painting  of  it,  and  a 

Dutchman's. 

• 

rv. 

Do  not  think,  by  learning  the  nature  or  structure  of  a 
thing,  that  you  can  learn  to  draw  it.  Anatomy  is  neces- 


APHORISMS.  13 


sary  in  the  education  of  surgeons;  botany  in  that  of 
apothecaries;  and  geology  in  that  of  miners.  But  none 
of  the  three  will  enable  you  to  draw  a  man,  a  flower,  or  a 
mountain.  You  can  learn  to  do  that  only  by  looking  at 
them  ;  not  by  cutting  them  to  pieces.  And  don't  think 
you  can  paint  a  peach,  because  you  know  there's  a  stone 
inside  ;  nor  a  face,  because  you  know  a  skull  is. 

v. 

Naxt  to  outlining  things  accurately,  of  their  true  form, 
you  must  learn  to  color  them  delicately,  of  their  true 
color. 

VI. 

If  you  can  match  a  color  accurately,  and  lay  it  deli- 
cately, you  are  a  painter  ;  as,  if  you  can  strike  a  note 
surely,  and  deliver  it  clearly,  you  are  a  singer.  You  may 
then  choose  what  you  will  paint,  or  what  you  will  sing. 

VII. 

A  pea  is  green,  a  cherry  red,  and  a  blackberry  black, 
all  round. 

vm. 

Every  light  is  a  shade,  compared  to  higher  lights,  till 
you  come  to  the  sun  ;  and  every  shade  is  a  light,  compared 
to  deeper  shades,  till  you  come  to  the  night.  When, 
therefore,  you  have  outlined  any  space,  you  have  no  reason 
tr>  ask  whether  it  is  in  light  or  shade,  but  only,  of  what 
color  it  is,  and  to  what  depth  of  that  color. 

IX. 

You  will  be  told  that  shadow  is  gray.  But  Correggio, 
when  he  has  to  shade  with  one  color,  takes  red  chalk. 


14:  THE   LAWS   OF  FESOLE. 


X. 


You  will  be  told  that  bine  is  a  retiring  color,  because 
distant  mountains  are  blue.  The  sun  setting  behind 
them  is  nevertheless  farther  off,  and  you  must  paint  it 
with  red  or  yellow. 


XI. 


"  Please  paint  me  my  white  cat,"  said  little  Imelda. 
"  Child,"  answered  the  Bolognese  Professor,  "  in  the 
grand  school,  all  cats  are  gray." 


XII. 


Fine  weather  is  pleasant ;  but  if  your  picture  is  beau- 
tiful, people  will  not  ask  whether  the  sun  is  out  or  in. 


xm*. 


When  you  speak  to  your  friend  in  the  street,  you  take 
him  into  the  shade.  When  you  wish  to  think  you  can 
speak  to  him  in  your  picture,  do  the  same. 


XIV. 


Be  economical  in  every  thing,  but  especially  in  candles. 
When  it  is  time  to  light  them,  go  to  bed.  But  the  worst 
waste  of  them  is  drawing  by  them. 


xv. 


Never,  if  you  can  help  it,  miss  seeing  the  sunset  and 
the  dawn.  And  never,  if  you  can  help  it,  see  any  thing 
but  dreams  between  them. 


APHORISMS.  15 

XVI. 

( A  fine  picture,  you  say '( '  "  The  finest  possible ;  St. 
Jerome,  and  his  lion,  and  his  arm-chair.  St.  Jerome  was 
painted  by  a  saint,  and  the  Lion  by  a  hunter,  and  the 
chair  by  an  upholsterer." 

My  compliments.  It  must  be  very  fine;  but  I  do  not 
care  to  see  it. 

XVII. 

{ Three  pictures,  you  say  ?  and  by  Carpaccio  ! '  "  Yes — 
St.  Jerome,  and  his  lion,  and  his  arm-chair.  Which  will 
you  see  ?"  '  What  does  it  matter  ?  The  one  I  can  see 
soonest.' 

XVIII. 

Great  painters  defeat  Death ;  the  vile,  adorn  him,  and 
adore. 

XIX. 

If  the  picture  is  beautiful,  copy  it  as  it  is ;  if  ugly,  let 
it  alone.  Only  Heaven,  and  Death,  know  what  it  was. 

xx. 

i  The  King  has  presented  an  Etruscan  vase,  the  most 
beautiful  in  the  world,  to  the  Museum  of  Naples.  What 
a  pity  I  cannot  draw  it ! ' 

In  the  meantime,  the  housemaid  has  broken  a  kitchen 
tea-cup ;  let  me  see  if  you  can  draw  one  of  the  pieces. 

XXI. 

When  you  would  do  your  best,  stop,  the  moment  you 
begin  to  feel  difficulty.  Your  drawing  will  be  the  best 


16  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

you  can  do ;  but  you  will  not  be  able  to  do  another  so 
good  to-morrow. 


XXII. 


When  you  would  do  better  than  your  best,  put  your 
full  strength  out,  the  moment  you  feel  a  difficulty.  You 
will  spoil  your  drawing  to-day ;  but  you  will  do  better 
than  your  to-day's  best,  to-morrow. 


XXIII. 


"  The  enemy  is  too  strong  for  me  to-day,"  said  the  wise 
young  general.  "  I  won't  fight  him ;  but  I  won't  lose 
sight  of  him." 


XXIV. 


"  I  can  do  what  I  like  with  my  colors,  now,"  said  the 
proud  young  scholar.  "  So  could  I,  at  your  age," 
answered  the  master;  "but  now,  I  can  only  do  what 
other  people  like." 


CHAPTEE  III. 

FIRST    EXERCISE     IN    RIGHT    LINES,    THE     QUARTERING    OF    ST. 


1.  TAKE  your  compasses,*  and  measuring  an  inch  on 
your  ivory  rule,  mark  that  dimension  by  the  two  dots  at 
B  and  C  (see  the  uppermost  figure  on  the  left  in  Plate 
1),  and  with  your  black  ruler  draw  a  straight  line  between 
them,  with  a  fine  steel  pen  and  common  ink.f  Then  mea- 
sure the  same  length,  of  an  inch,  down  from  B,  as  nearly 
perpendicular  as  you  can,  and  mark  the  point  A ;  and 
divide  the  height  A  B  into  four  equal  parts  with  the  com- 
passes, and  mark  them  with  dots,  drawing  every  dot  as  a 
neatly  circular  point,  clearly  visible.  This  last  finesse 
will  be  an  essential  part  of  your  drawing  practice  ;  it  is 
very  irksome  to  draw  such  dots  patiently,  and  very  diffi- 
cult to  draw  them  well. 

Then  mark,  not  now  by  measure,  but  by  eye,  the  re- 
maining corner  of  the  square,  D,  and  divide  the  opposite 
side  C  D,  by  dots,  opposite  the  others  as  nearly  as  you 

*  I  have  not  been  able  yet  to  devise  a  quite  simple  and  sufficient  case 
of  drawing  instruments  for  my  schools.  But,  at  all  events,  the  com- 
plete instrument-case  must  include  the  ivory  scale,  the  black  parallel 
rule,  a  divided  quadrant  (which  I  will  give  a  drawing  of  when  it  is 
wanted),  one  pair  of  simple  compasses,  and  one  fitted  with  pen  and 
pencil.  • 

\  Any  dark  color  that  will  wash  off  their  fingers  may  be  prepared 
for  children. 


18  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

can  guess.  Then  draw  four  level  lines  without  a  ruler, 
and  without  raising  your  pen,  or  stopping,  slowly,  from 
dot  to  dot,  across  the  square.  The  four  lines  altogether 
should  not  take  less, — but  not  much  more, — than  a 
quarter  of  a  minute  in  the  drawing,  or  about  four  seconds 
each.  Repeat  this  practice  now  and  then,  at  leisure 
minutes,  until  you  have  got  an  approximately  well-drawn 
group  of  five  lines;  the  point  D  being  successfully  put 
in  accurate  corner  of  the  square.  Then  similarly  divide 
the  lines  A  I)  and  B  C,  by  the  eye,  into  four  parts,  and 
complete  the  figure  as  on  the  right  hand  at  the  top  of 
Plate  1,  and  test  it  by  drawing  diagonals  across  it  through 
the  corners  of  the  squares,  till  you  can  draw  it  true. 

2.  Contenting  yourself  for  some  time  with  this  square 
of  sixteen  quarters  for  hand  practice,  draw  also,  with  ex- 
tremest  accuracy  of  measurement  possible  to  you,  and 
finely  ruled  lines  such  as  those  in  the  plate,  the  inch 
square,  with  its  side  sometimes  divided  into  three  parts, 
sometimes  into  five,  and  sometimes  into  six,  completing 
the  interior  nine,  twenty-five,  and  thirty-six  squares  with 
utmost  precision ;  and  do  not  be  satisfied  with  these  till 
diagonals  afterwards  drawn,  as  in  the  figure,  pass  pre- 
cisely through  the  angles  of  the  square. 

Then,  as  soon  as  you  can  attain  moderate  precision  in 
instrumental  drawing,  construct  the  central  figure  in  the 
plate,  drawing,  first  the  square  ;  then,  the  lines  of  the 
horizontal  bar,  from  the  midmost  division  of  the  side 
divided  into  five.  Then  draw  the  curves  of  the  shield, 
from  the  uppermost  corners  of  the  cross-bar,  for  cen- 
tres ;  then  the  vertical  bar,  also  one-fifth  of  the  square 
in  breadth;  lastly,  find  the  centre  of  the  square,  and 
draw  the  enclosing  circle,  to  test  the  precision  of  all. 


III.    P'IRST    EXERCISE   IN   RIGHT   LINES.  19 

More  advanced  pupils  may  draw  the  inner  line  to  mark 
thickness  of  shield;  and  lightly  tint  the  cross  with  rose- 
color. 

In  the  lower  part  of  the  plate  is  a  first  study  of  a 
feather,  for  exercise  later  on ;  it  is  to  be  copied  with  a 
fine  steel  pen  and  common  ink,  having  been  so  drawn  with 
decisive  and  visible  lines,  to  form  steadiness  of  hand.* 

3.  The  feather  is  one  of  the  smallest  from  the  upper 
edge  of  a   hen's  wing;    the  pattern  is  obscure,  and  not 
so  well  adapted  for  practice  as  others  to  be  given  sub- 
sequently, but  I  like  best  to  begin  with  this,  under  St. 
George's  shield  ;  and  whether  you  can  copy  it  or  not,  if 
you  have  any  natural  feeling  for  beauty  of  line,  you  will 
see,  by  comparing  the  two,  that  the  shield  form,  mechani- 
cally cons'ructed,   is  meagre  and  stiff;    and  also  that  it 
would  be  totally  impossible  to  draw    the    curves  which 
terminate  the  feather  below  by  any  m  >chanical  law ;  much 
less  the  various  curves  of  its  filaments.     Nor  can  we  draw 
even  so  simple  a  form  as  that  of  a  shield  beautifully,  by 
instruments.    But  we  may  come  nearer,  by  a  more  complex 
construction,  to  beautiful  form  ;  and  define  at  the  same 
time   the   heraldic    limits  of  the    bearings.      This    finer 
method  is  given  in  Plate  2,  on  a  scale  twice  as  large,  the 
shield  being  here  two  inches  wide.     And  it  is  to  be  con- 
structed as  follows. 

4.  Draw  the  square  A  B  C  D,  two  inches  on  the  side, 

*  The  original  drawings  for  all  these  plates  will  be  put  in  the 
Sheffield  Museum  ;  but  if  health  remains  to  me,  I  will  prepare  others 
of  the  same  kind,  only  of  different  subjects,  for  the  other  schools  of  St. 
George.  The  engravings,  by  Mr.  Allen's  good  skill,  will,  I  doubt  not, 
be  better  than  the  originals  for  all  practical  purposes ;  especially  as  my 
hand  now  shakes  more  than  his,  in  small  work. 


20  THE    LAWS   OF    FESOLE. 

with  its  diagonals  A  C,  B  D,  and  the  vertical  P  Q  through 
its  centre  O  ;  and  observe  that,  henceforward,  I  shall 
always  use  the  words  '  vertical '  for  '  perpendicular,'  and 
i  level '  for  *  horizontal,'  being  shorter,  and  no  less  accurate. 

Divide  O  Q,  OP,  each  into  three  equal  parts  by  the 
points,  K,  a;  N,  d. 

Through  a  and  d  draw  the  level  lines,  cutting  the  dia- 
gonals in  5,  c,  e,  and  f\  and  produce  b  c,  cutting  the  sides 
of  the  square  in  m  and  n,  as  far  towards  x  and  y  as  you 
see  will  be  necessaiy. 

With  centres  m  and  n>,  and  the  equal  radii  in  a,  n  a, 
describe  semicircles,  cutting  x  y  in  x  and  y.  With  centres 
x  and  y,  and  the  equal  radii  x  n,  y  m,  describe  arcs  m  Y, 
n  Y,  cutting  each  other  and  the  line  Q  P,  produced,  in  Y. 

The  precision  of  their  concurrence  will  test  your  accu- 
racy of  construction. 

5.  The  form  of  shield  BOY,  thus  obtained,  is  not  a 
perfect  one,  because  no  perfect  form  (in  the  artist's  sense 
of  the  word  i  perf ectness ')  can  be  drawn  geometrically  ; 
but  it  approximately  represents  the  central  type  of  Eng- 
lish shield. 

It  is  necessary  for  you  at  once  to  learn  the  names  of 
the  nine  points  thus  obtained,  called  i  honor-points,'  by 
which  the  arrangement  and  measures  of  bearings  are 
determined. 

All  shields  are  considered  heraldically  to  be  square  in 
the  field,  so  that  they  can  be  divided  accurately  into  quar- 
ters. 

I  am  not  aware  of  any  formerly  recognized  geometri- 
cal method  of  placing  the  honor-points  in  this  field :  that 
which  I  have  here  given  will  be  found  convenient  for 
strict  measurement  of  the  proportions  of  bearings. 


D 


B 


A 


K 
O 
N 


•f 


D 


CONSTRUCTION     FOR     PLACING    THE     HONOR     POINTS. 
Schools  of  St.  George.     Elementary   Drawing.      Plate  II. 


III.    FIRST   EXERCISE  "IN   RIGHT   LINES.  21 

6.  Considering  the  square  A  B  C  D  as  the  field,  and 
removing  from  it  the  lines  of  construction,  the  honor- 
points  are  seen  in  their  proper  places,  in  the  lower  part 
of  the  plate. 

These  are  their  names, — 

a  Middle  Chief 

I  Dexter  Chief 

c  Sinister  Chief 

K.  Honor 

O  Fesse  [•  point. 

N  Numbril 

d  Middle  Base 

e  Dexter  Base 

f  Sinister  Base 

I  have  placed  these  letters,  with  some  trouble,  as  I 
think  best  for  help  of  your  memory. 

The  (i-,  6,  c ;  d,  e,  f,  are,  I  think,  most  conveniently 
placed  in  upper  and  under  series :  I  could  not,  therefore, 
put  f  for  the  Fesse  point,  but  the  O  will  remind  you  of  it 
as  the  sign  for  a  belt  or  girdle.  Then  K  will  stand  for 
knighthood,  or  the  honor-point,  and  putting  N  for  the 
numbril,  which  is  otherwise  difficult  to  remember,  we 
have,  reading  down,  the  syllable  KON,  the  Teutonic  be- 
ginning of  KONIG  or  King,  all  which  may  be  easily  re- 
membered. 

And  now  look  at  the  first  plate  of  the  large  Oxford 
series.*  It  is  engraved  from  my  free-hand  drawing  in 

*  See  notice  of  tins  series  in  Preface. 


22  THE   LAWS  OF   FESOLE. 

the  Oxford  schools  ;  and  is  to  be  copied,  as  that  drawing 
is  executed,  with  pencil  and  color. 

In  which  sentence  I  find  myself  face  to  face  with  a 
difficulty  of  expression  which  has  long  teased  me,  and 
which  I  must  now  conclusively,  with  the  readers  good 
help,  overcome. 

7.  In   all   classical   English  writing  on  art,   the  word 
'pencil,'  in  all  classical  French  writing  the  word  'pinceau,' 
and  in  all  classical  Italian  writing  the  word  'pennello,' 
means  the  painter's  instrument,  the  brush.* 

It  is  entirely  desirable  to  return,  in  England,  to  this 
classical  use  with  constant  accuracy,  and  resolutely  to  call 
the  black-lead  pencil,  the  '  lead-crayon  ;'  or,  for  shortness, 
simply  '  the  lead.'  In  this  book  I  shall  generally  so  call 
it,  saying,  for  instance,  in  the  case  of  this  diagram,  "  draw 
it  first  with  the  lead."  l  Crayon,'  from  '  craie,'  chalk,  I 
shall  use  instead  of  '  chalk  ;'  meaning  when  I  say  black 
crayon,  common  black  chalk ;  and  when  I  say  white  cra- 
yon, common  white  chalk  ;  while  I  shall  use  indifferently 
the  word  t  pencil '  for  the  instrument  whether  of  water- 
color  or  oil  painting. 

8.  Construct  then  the  whole  of  this  drawing,  Plate  1, 
Oxford  series,  first  with  a  light  lead  line  ;  then  take  an 
ordinaryf  camel's-hair  pencil,  and  with  free  hand  follow 


*  The  Latin  'penicillum'  originally  meant  a 'little  tail,' as  of  the 
ermine.  My  friend  Mr.  Alfred  Tylor  informs  me  that  Newton  was 
the  first  to  apply  the  word  to  light,  meaning  a  pointed  group  of  rays. 

f  That  is  to  say,  not  a  particularly  small  one  ;  hut  let  it  be  of  good 
quality.  Under  the  conditions  of  overflowing  wealth  which  reward 
our  national  manufacturing  industry,  I  find  a  curious  tendency  in  my 
pupils  to  study  economy  especially  in  colors  and  brushes.  Every 
now  and  then  1  find  a  student  using  a  brush  which  bends  up  when  it 


III.    FIRST   EXERCISE   IN   RIGHT   LINES.  23 

the  lead  lines  in  color.  Indian  red  is  the  color  generally 
to  be  used  for  practice,  being  cheap  and  sufficiently  dark, 
but  lake  or  carmine  work  more  pleasantly  for  a  difficult 
exercise  like  this. 

9.  In   laying  the   color   lines,  you   may  go   over   and 
over  again,  to  join  them  and  make  them  even,  as  often 
as  you  like,  but  must  not  thicken  the  thin  ones ;  nor  in- 
terrupt the  thickness  of  the  stronger  outline  so  as  to  con- 
fuse them  at  all  with  each  other.     Giotto,  Durer,  or  Man- 
tegna,  would  draw  them  at  once  without  pause  or  visible 
error,  as  far  as  the  color  in  the  pencil  lasted.     Only  two 
or  three  years  ago  I  could  nearly  have  done  so  myself, 
but  my  hand  now  shakes  a  little ;    the  drawing  in  the 
Oxford  schools  is  however  very  little  retouched  over  the 
first  line. 

10.  We  will  at  this  point  leave  our  heraldry,*  because 


touches  the  paper,  and  remains  in  the  form  of  a  fish-hook.  If  I  advise 
purchase  of  a  better,  he — or  she — says  to  me,  "  Can't  I  do  something 
with  this?"  "Yes, — something,  certainly.  Perhaps  you  may  paste 
with  it  ;  but  you  can't  draw.  Suppose  I  was  a  fencing-master,  and 
you  told  me  you  couldn't  afford  to  buy  a  foil, — would  you  expect  me 
to  teach  you  to  fence  with  a  poker?" 

*  Under  the  general  influence  of  Mr.  Gradgrind,  there  has  been 
lately  published  a  book  of  "  Heraldry  founded  on  facts  "  (The  Pur- 
suivant of  Arms, — Chatto  &  Windus),  which  is  worth  buying,  for 
two  reasons  :  the  first,  that  its  '  facts '  are  entirely  trustworthy  and 
useful  (well  illustrated  in  minor  woodcut  also,  and,  many,  very  curi- 
ous and  new)  ;  the  second,  that  the  writer's  total  ignorance  of  art, 
and  his  education  among  vulgar  modernisms,  have  caused  him  to  give 
figure  illustrations,  wherever  he  draws  either  man  or  beast,  as  at  pages 
62  and  106,  whose  horrible  vulgarity  will  be  of  good  future  service  as 
a  type  to  us  of  the  maximum  in  that  particular.  But  the  curves  of 
shields  are,  throughout,  admirably  chosen  and  drawn,  to  the  point 
mechanically  possible. 


24  THE   LAWS   OF    FESOLE. 

we  cannot  better  the  form  of  our  shield  until  we  can  draw 
lines  of  more  perfect,  that  is  to  say,  more  varied  and 
interesting,  curvature,  for  its  sides.  And  in  order  to  do 
this  we  must  learn  how  to  construct  and  draw  curves 
which  cannot  be  drawn  with  any  mathematical  instru- 
ment, and  yet  whose  course  is  perfectly  determined. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FIRST    EXERCISE    IN    CURVES.       THE    CIRCLE. 

1.  AMONG   the    objects    familiarly  visible   to   us,   and 
usually  regarded  with  sentiments  of  admiration,  few  are 
more  classically  representative  of  Giotto's  second  figure, 
inscribed   in   his  square,  than  that  by  common   consent 
given  by  civilized  nations  to  their  pieces  of  money.     We 
may,  I  hope,  under  fortunate  augury,  limit  ourselves  at 
first  to  the  outline  (as,  in  music,  young  students  usually 
begin  with  the  song)  of  Sixpence. 

2.  Supposing  you  fortunate  enough  to  possess  the  coin, 
may  I  ask  you  to  lay  it  before  you  on  a  stiff  card.     Do 
you  think  it  looks  round  ?     It  does  not,  unless  you  look 
exactly  down  on  it.     But  let  us  suppose  you  do  so,  and 
have  to  draw  its  outline  under  that  simple  condition. 

Take  your  pen,  and  do  it  then,  beside  the  sixpence. 

"  You  cannot  ?" 

Neither  can  I.  Giotto  could,  and  perhaps  after  work- 
ing due  time  under  the  laws  of  F£sole,  you  may  be  able 
to  do  it,  too,  approximately.  If  I  were  as  young  as  you, 
I  should  at  least  encourage  that  hope.  In  the  meantime 
you  must  do  it  ignominiously,  with  compasses.  Take 
your  pen -compasses,  and  draw  with  them  a  circle  the  size 
of  a  sixpence.* 

*  Not  all  young  students  can  even  manage  their  compasses  ;  and  it 
is  well  to  get  over  this  difficulty  with  deliberate  and  immediate  effort. 


26  THE    LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

3.  When  it  is  done,  yon  will  not,  I  hope,  be  satisfied 
with  it  as  the  outline  of  a  sixpence.*  For,  in  the  first 
place,  it  might  just  as  well  stand  for  the  outline  of  the 
moon  ;  and  in  the  second,  though  it  is  true,  or  accurate,  in 
the  mere  quality  of  being  a  circle,  either  the  space  en- 
closed by  the  inner  side  of  the  black  line  must  be  smaller, 
or  that,  enclosed  by  the  outside  larger,  than  the  area  of  a 
sixpence.  So  the  closer  you  can  screw  the  compass-point, 
the  better  you  will  be  pleased  with  your  line  :  only  it 
must  always  happen  even  with  the  most  delicate  line,  so 
long  as  it  has  thickness  at  all,  that  its  inner  edge  is  too 
small,  or  its  outer  too  large.  It  is  best,  therefore,  that  the 

Hold  your  compasses  upright,  and  lightly,  by  the  joint  at  the  top  ;  fix 
one  point  quite  firm,  and  carry  the  other  round  it  any  quantity  of  times 
without  touching  the  paper,  as  if  you  were  spinning  a  top  without 
quitting  hold  of  it.  The  fingers  have  to  shift  as  the  compasses  re- 
volve ;  and,  when  well  practised,  should  do  so  without  stopping,  check- 
ing, or  accelerating  the  motion  of  the  point.  Practise  for  five 
minutes  at  a  time  till  you  get  skilful  in  this  action,  considering  it 
equally  disgraceful  that  the  fixed  point  of  the  compasses  should  slip,  or 
that  it  should  bore  a  hole  in  the  paper.  After  you  are  enough  accus- 
tomed to  the  simple  mechanism  of  the  revolution,  depress  the  second 
point,  and  draw  any  quantity  of  circles  with  it,  large  and  small,  till 
you  can  draw  them  throughout,  continuously,  with  perfect  ease. 

*  If  any  student  object  to  the  continued  contemplation  of  so  vulgar 
an  object,  I  must  pray  him  to  observe  that,  vulgar  as  it  may  be,  the 
idea  of  it  is  contentedly  allowed  to  mingle  with  our  most  romantic 
ideals.  I  find  this  entry  in  my  diary  for  26th  January,  1876  :  "To 
Crystal  Palace,  through  squalor  and  rags  of  declining  Dulwich  :  very 
awful.  In  palace  afterwards,  with  organ  playing  above  its  rows  of 
ghastly  cream-colored  amphitheatre  seats,  with '  SIXPENCE '  in  letters 
as  large  as  the  organist, — occupying  the  full  field  of  sight  below  him.  Of 
course,  the  names  of  Mendelssohn,  Orpheus,  Apollo,  Julien,  and  other 
great  composers,  were  painted  somewhere  in  the  panelling  above. 
But  the  real  inscription — meant  to  be  practically,  and  therefore  divine- 
ly, instructive — was  '  SIXPENCE.' 


IV.   FIRST   EXERCISE    IN   CURVES.  27 

error  should  be  divided  between  these  two  excesses,  and 
that  the  centre  of  the  line  should  coincide  with  the  con- 
tour of  the  object.  In  advanced  practice,  however,  out- 
line is  properly  to  be  defined  as  the  narrowest  portion 
which  can  be  conveniently  laid  of  a  dark  background 
round  an  object  which  is  to  be  relieved  in  light,  or  of  a 
light  background  round  an  object  to  be  relieved  in  shade. 
The  Venetians  often  leave  their  first  bright  outlines 
gleaming  round  their  dark  figures,  after  the  rest  of  the 
background  has  been  added. 

4.  The  perfect  virtue  of  an  outline,  therefore,  is  to  be 
absolutely  accurate  with  its  inner  edge,  the  outer  edge 
being  of  no  consequence.     Thus  the  figures  relieved  in 
light  on  black  Greek  vases  are  first  enclosed  with  a  line 
of  thick  black  paint  about  the  eighth  of  an  inch  broad, 
afterwards  melted  into  the  added  background. 

In  dark  outline  on  white  ground,  however,  it  is  often 
necessary  to  draw  the  extremities  of  delicate  forms  with 
lines  which  give  the  limit  with  their  outer  instead  of  their 
inner  edge ;  else  the  features  would  become  too  large. 
Beautiful  examples  of  this  kind  of  work  are  to  be  seen  in 
face-drawing,  especially  of  children,  by  Leech,  aifid  Du 
Maurier,  in  'Punch.' 

Loose  lines,  doubled  or  trebled,  are  sometimes  found  in 
work  by  great,  never  by  the  greatest,  masters ;  but  these 
are  only  tentative;  processes  of  experiment  as  to  the 
direction  in  which  the  real  outline  is  to  be  finally  laid. 

5.  The  fineness  of  an  outline  is  of  course  to  be  esti- 
mated in  relation  to  the  size  of  the  object  it  defines.     A 
chalk  sketch  on  a  wall  may  be  a  very  subtle  outline  of  a 
large  picture ;  though  Holbein  or  Bewick  would  be  able 
to  draw  a  complete  figure  within  the  width  of  one  of  its 


28  THE   LAWS  OF   FESOLE. 

lines.  And,  for  your  own  practice,  the  simplest  instru- 
ment is  the  best ;  and  the  line  drawn  by  any  moderately 
well-cut  quill  pen,  not  crow  quill,  but  sacred  goose,  is  the 
means  of  all  art  which  you  have  first  to  master  ;  and  you 
may  be  sure  that,  in  the  end,  your  progress  in  all  the 
highest  skill  of  art  will  be  swift  in  proportion  to  the  pa- 
tience with  which  in  the  outset  you  persist  in  exercises 
which  will  finally  enable  you  to  draw  with  ease  the  out- 
line of  any  object  of  a  moderate  size  (plainly  visible,  be 
it  understood,  and  firmly  terminated),*  with  an  unerring 
and  continuous  pen  line. 

6.  And  observe,  once  for  all,  there  is  never  to  be  any 
scrawling,  blotting,  or  splashing,  in  your  work,  with  pen 
or  any  thing  else.     But  especially  with  the  pen,  you  are 
to  avoid  rapid  motion,  because  you  will  be  easily  tempted 
to  it.     Remember,  therefore,  that  no  line  is  well  drawn 
unless  you  can  stop  your   hand  at  any  point  of    it  you 
choose.     On  the  other  hand,  the  motion  must   be    con- 
sistent and  continuous,  otherwise   the   line  will  not   be 
even. 

7.  It  is  not  indeed  possible  to  say  with  precision  how 
fast  the  point  may  move,  while  yet  the  eye  and  fingers 
retain  perfect  attention  and  directing  power  over  it.     I 
have  seen  a  great  master's  hand  flying  over  the  paper  as 
fast  as  gnats  over  a  pool ;  and  the  ink  left  by  the  light 
grazing  of  it,  so  pale,  that  it  gathered  into  shade  like  gray 
lead ;   and  yet  the  contours,  and  fine  notes  of  character 
seized  with  the  accuracy  of  Holbein.     But  gift  of  th 
kind  is  a  sign  of  the  rarest  artistic  faculty  and  tact :  ye . 

*  By 'firmly  terminated,'  I  mean  having  an  outline  winch  can  be 
drawn,  as  that  of  your  sixpence,  or  a  book,  or  a  table.  You  can't  out- 
line a  bit  of  cotton  wool,  or  the  flame  of  a  candle. 


IV.    FIRST   EXERCISE   IN 


need  not  attempt  to  gain  it,  for  if  it  is  in  you,  and  you 
work  continually,  the  power  will  come  of  itself  ;  and  if  it 
is  not  in  you,  will  never  come  ;  nor,  even  if  you  could 
win  it,  is  the  attainment  wholly  desirable.  Drawings  thus 
executed  are  always  imperfect,  however  beautiful  :  they 
are  out  of  harmony  with  the  general  manner  and  scheme 
of  serviceable  art  ;  and  always,  so  far  as  I  have  observed, 
the  sign  of  some  deficiency  of  earnestness  in  the  worker. 
Whatever  your  faculty  may  be,  deliberate  exercise  will 
strengthen  and  confirm  the  good  of  it  ;  while,  even  if 
your  natural  gift  for  drawing  be  small,  such  exercise  will 
at  least  enable  you  to  understand  and  admire,  both  in 
art  and  nature,  much  that  was  before  totally  profitless 
or  sealed  to  you. 

8.  We  return,  then,  to  our  coin  study.  Now,  if  we  are 
ever  to  draw  a  sixpence  in  a  real  picture,  we  need  not 
think  that  it  can  always  be  done  by  looking  down  at  it 
like  a  hawk,  or  a  miser,  about  to  pounce.  We  must  be 
able  to  draw  it  lying  anywhere,  and  seen  from  any  dis- 
tance. 

So  now  raise  the  card,  with  the  coin  on  it,  slowly  to 
the  level  of  the  eye,  so  as  at  last  to  look  straight  over  its 
surface.  As  you  do  so,  gradually  the  circular  outline  of 
it  becomes  compressed  ;  and  between  the  position  in 
which  you  look  down  on  it,  seeing  its  outline  as  a  circle, 
and  the  position  in  which  you  look  across  it,  seeing  noth- 
ing but  its  edge,  there  are  thus  developed  an  infinite 
series  of  intermediate  outlines,  which,  as  they  approach 
the  circle,  resemble  that  of  an  egg,  and  as  they  approach 
the  straight  line,  that  of  a  rolling-pin;  but  which  are 
all  accurately  drawn  curves,  called  by  mathematicians 
1  ellipses,'  or  curves  that  '  leave  out  '  something  ;  in  this 


30  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

first  practice  you  see  they  leave  out  some  space  of  the 
circle  they  are  derived  from. 

9.  Now,  as  you  can  draw  the  circle  with  compasses,  so 
you  can  draw  any  ellipse  with  a  bit  of  thread  and  two 
pins.*     But  as  you  cannot  stick  your  picture  over  with 
pins,  nor  find  out,  for  any  given  ellipse,  without  a  long 
mathematical   operation,   where   the  pins    should   go,  or 
how  long  the  thread  should  be,  there  is  now  no  escape 
for  you  from  the  necessity  of  drawing  the  flattened  shape 
of  the  sixpence  with  free  hand. 

10.  And,  therefore,  that  we  may  have   a  little   more 
freedom  for  it,  we  will  take  a  larger,  more  generally  at- 
tainable, and  more  reverendly  classic  coin ;  namely,  the 
'  Soldo/  or  solid  thing,  from  whose  Italian  name,  heroes 
who    fight    for  pay   were    first    called  Soldiers,    or,    in 
English,  Pennyworth-men.     Curiously,  on  taking  one  by 
chance  out  of  my  pocket,  it   proves   to   be   a    Double 
Obohis  (Charon's  fare  ! — and  back  again,  let  us  hope),  or 
Ten   Mites,  of  which  two  make  a  Five-thing.     Inscribed 
to  that  effect  on  one  side — 

AKIEOAON 

IO 
AEIITA 

while  the  other  bears  an  eftigy  not  quite  so  curly  in  the 
hair  as  an  ancient  Herakles,  written  around  thus, — 

rEnpriO2  A 

BASIAET2  TD.N  EAAHNflN 
I  lay  this  on  a  sheet  of  white  paper  on  the  table ;  and, 

*  No  method  of  drawing  it  by  points  will  give  a  finely  continuous 
line,  until  the  hand  is  free  in  passing  through  the  points. 


IV.    FIRST   EXERCISE   IN   CURVES.  31 

the  image  and  superscription  being,  for  our  perspective 
purposes,  just  now  indifferent,  I  will  suppose  you  have 
similarly  placed  a  penny  before  you  for  contemplation. 

11.  Take  next  a  sheet  of  moderately  thick  note-paper, 
and  folding  down  a  piece  of  it  sharply,  cut  out  of  the 
folded  edge  a  small  flat  arch,  which,  when  you  open  the 
sheet,  will  give  you  an  oval  aperture,  somewhat  smaller 
than  the  penny. 

Holding  the  paper  with  this  opening  in  it  upright, 
adjust  the  opening  to  some  given  point  of  sight,  so  that 
you  see  the  penny  exactly  through  it.  You  can  trim  the 
cut  edge  till  it  fits  exactly,  and  you  will  then  see  the 
penny  apparently  painted  on  the  paper  between  you  and 
it,  on  a  smaller  scale. 

If  you  make  the  opening  no  larger  than  a  grain  of  oats, 
and  hold  the  paper  near  you,  and  the  penny  two  or  three 
feet  back,  you  will  get  a  charming  little  image  of  it,  very 
pretty  and  quaint  to  behold ;  and  by  cutting  apertures  of 
different  sizes,  you  will  convince  yourself  that  you  don't 
see  the  penny  of  any  given  size,  but  that  you  judge  of  its 
actual  size  by  guessing  at  its  distance,  the  real  image  on 
the  retina  of  the  eye  being  far  smaller  than  the  smallest 
hole  you  can  cut  in  the  paper 

12.  Now  if,  supposing  you  already  have  some  skill  in 
painting,  you  try  to  produce  an  image  of  the  penny  which 
shall  look  exactly  like  it,  seen  through  any  of  these  open- 
ings, beside  the  opening,  you  will  soon  feel  how  absurd 
it  is  to  make  the  opening  small,  since  it  is  impossible  to 
draw  with  fineness  enough  quite  to  imitate  the  image 
seen  through  any  of  these  diminished  apertures.     But  if 
you  cut  the  opening  only  a  hair's-breadth  less  wide  than 
the  coin,  you  may  arrange  the  paper  close  to  it  by  put- 


32  THE    LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

ting  the  card  and  penny  on  the  edge  of  a  hook,  and  then 
paint  the  simple  image  of  what  you  see  (penny  only, 
mind,  not  the  cast  shadow  of  it),  so  that  you  can't  tell  the 
one  from  the  other ;  and  that  will  be  right,  if  your  only 
ohject  is  to  paint  the  penny.  It  will  be  right  also  for  a 
flower,  or  a  fruit,  or  a  feather,  or  aught  else  which  you 
are  observing  simply  for  its  own  sake. 

13.  But  it  will  be  natural-history  painting,  not  great 
painter's  painting.     A  great  painter  cares  only  to  paint 
his  penny  while  the  steward  gives  it  to  the  laborer,  or  his 
twopence  while  the  Good  Samaritan  gives  it  to  the  host. 
And  then  it  must  be  so  painted  as  you  would  see  it  at 
the  distance  where  you  can  also  see  the  Samaritan. 

14.  Perfectly,  however,  at  that  distance.     Not  sketched 
or  slurred,  in  order  to  bring  out  the  solid  Samaritan  in 
relief  from  the  aerial  twopence. 

And  by  being  '  perfectly '  painted  at  that  distance,  I 
mean,  as  it  would  be  seen  by  the  human  eye  in  the  per- 
fect power  of  youth.  That  forever  indescribable  instru- 
ment, aidless,  is  the  proper  means  of  sight,  and  test  of  all 
laws  of  work  which  bear  upon  aspect  of  things  for  human 
beings. 

15.  Having  got  thus  much  of  general  principle  defined, 
we  return  to  our  own  immediate  business,  now  simplified 
by  having  ascertained  that  our  elliptic  outline  is  to  be  of 
the  width  of  the  penny  proper,  within  ahair's-breadth,  so 
that,  practically,  we  may  take  accurate  measure  of  the 
diameter,  and  on  that  diameter  practise  drawing  ellipses 
of  different  degrees  of  fatness.     If  you  have  a  master  to 
help  you,  and  see  that  they  are  will  drawn,  I  need  not 
give  you  farther  direction  at  this  stage ;   but  if  not,  and 
we  are  to  go  on  by  ourselves,  we  must  have  some  more 


IV.    FIRST   EXERCISE   IN   CURVES.  33 

compass  work  ;  which  reserving  for  next  chapter,  I  will 
conclude  this  one  with  a  few  words  to  more  advanced  stu- 
dents on  the  use  of  outline  in  study  from  nature. 

16.  I.  Lead,  or  silver  point,  outline. 

It  is  the  only  one  capable  of  perfection,  and  the  best  of 
all  means  for  gaining  intellectual  knowledge  of  form. 
Of  the  degrees  in  which  shade  may  be  wisely  united  with 
it,  the  drawings  of  the  figure  in  the  early  Florentine 
schools  give  every  possible  example :  but  the  severe 
method  of  engraved  outline  used  on  Etruscan  metal-work 
is  the  standard  appointed  by  the  laws  of  Fesole.  The 
finest  application  of  such  method  may  be  seen  in  the 
Florentine  engravings,  of  which  more  or  less  perfect  fac- 
similes are  given  in  my  '  Ariadne  Florentina.'  Raphael's 
silver  point  outline,  for  the  figure,  and  Turner's  lead  out- 
line in  landscape,  are  beyond  all  rivalry  in  abstract  of 
graceful  and  essential  fact.  Of  Turner's  lead  outlines, 
examples  enough  exist  in  the  National  Gallery  to  supply 
all  the  schools  in  England,  when  they  are  prouerly 
distributed.* 

17.  II.  Pen,  or  woodcut,  outline.     The  best  means  of 
primal   study  of  composition,   and   for  giving   vigorous 
impression  to  simple  spectators.     The  woodcuts  of  almost 
any  Italian  books  towards  1500,  most  of  Durer's  (a), — all 
Holbein's  ;  but  especially  those  of  the  ;  Dance  of  Death' 

*  My  kind  friend  Mr.  Burton  is  now  so  fast  bringing  all  things  under 
his  control  into  good  working  order  at  the  ^National  Gallery,  that  I 
have  good  hope,  by  the  help  of  his  influence  with  the  Trustees,  such 
distribution  may  be  soon  effected. 


(a)  I  have  put  the  complete  series  of  the  life  of  the  Virgin  in  the  St. 
George's  Museum.  Sheffield. 


34  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

(5),  and  the  etchings  by  Turner  himself  in  the  k  Liber 
Studiorum,'  are  standards  of  it  (<?).  With  a  light  wash 
of  thin  color  above,  it  is  the  noblest  method  of  intellectual 
study  of  composition ;  so  employed  by  all  the  great  Flor- 
entine draughtsmen,  and  by  Mantegna  (d).  Holbein  and 
Turner  carry  the  method  forward  into  full  chiaroscuro ; 
so  also  Sir  Joshua  in  his  first  sketches  of  pictures  (e). 

18.  III.   Outline  with  the  pencil.     Much  as  I  have 
worked  on  illuminated  manuscripts,  I  have  never  yet  been 
able  to  distinguish,  clearly,  pencilled    outlines  from  the 
penned  rubrics.     But  I  shall  gradually  give  large  exam- 
ples from   thirteenth   century  work  which  will   be   for 
beginners  to  copy  with  the  pen,  and  for  advanced  pupils 
to  follow  with  the  pencil. 

19.  The  following  notes,  from  the  close  of  one  of  my 
Oxford  lectures  on  landscape,  contain  the  greater  part  of 
what  it  is  necessary  farther  to  say  to  advanced  students* 
on  this  subject 

*  I  find  this  book  terribly  difficult  to  arrange ;  for  if  I  did  it  quite 
rightly,  I  should  make  the  exercises  and  instructions  progressive  and 
consecutive ;  but  then,  nobody  would  see  the  reason  for  them  till  we 
came  to  the  end  ;  and  I  am  so  encumbered  with  other  work  that  I  think 
it  best  now  to  get  this  done  in  the  way  likeliest  to  make  each  part 
immediately  useful.  Otherwise,  this  chapter  should  have  been  all 
about  right  lines  only,  and  then  we  should  have  had  one  on  the  arrange- 
ment of  right  lines,  followed  by  curves,  and  arrangement  of  curves. 


(&)  First  edition,  also  in  Sheffield  Museum. 

(c)  '  JEsacus  and  Hesperie,'  and  'The  Falls  of  the  Reuss,'  in  Sheffield 
Museum. 

(d)  'The   Triumph   of   Joseph.'      Florentine   drawing   in    Sheffield 
Museum. 

(e)  Two,  in  Sheffield  Museum. 


IV.    FIRST   EXERCISE   IN  CURVES.  35 

When  forms,  as  of  trees  or  mountain  edges,  are  so 
complex  that  you  cannot  follow  them  in  detail,  you  are 
to  enclose  them  with  a  careful  outside  limit,  taking  in 
their  main  masses.  Suppose  you  have  a  map  to  draw  on 
a  small  scale,  the  kind  of  outline  which  a  good  geographi- 
cal draughtsman  gives  to  the  generalized  capes  and  bays 
of  a  country,  is  that  by  which  you  are  to  define  too 
complex  masses  in  landscapes. 

An  outline  thus  perfectly  made,  with  absolute  decision, 
and  with  a  wash  of  one  color  above  it,  is  the  most  mas- 
terly of  all  methods  of  light  and  shade  study,  with  limited 
time,  when  the  forms  of  the  objects  to  be  drawn  are  clear 
and  unaffected  by  mist. 

But  without  any  wash  of  color,  such  an  outline  is  the 
most  valuable  of  all  means  of  obtaining  such  memoranda 
of  any  scene  as  may  explain  to  another  person,  or  record 
for  yourself,  what  is  most  important  in  its  features ;  only 
when  it  is  thus  used,  some  modification  is  admitted  in  its 
treatment,  and  always  some  slight  addition  of  shade 
becomes  necessary  in  order  that  the  outline  may  contain 
the  utmost  information  possible.  Into  this  question  of 
added  shade  I  shall  proceed  hereafter. 

20.  For  the  sum  of  present  conclusions :  observe  that 
in  all  drawings  in  which  flat  washes  of  color  are  associated 
with  outline,  the  first  great  point  is  entirely  to  suppress 
the  influences  of  impatience  and  affectation,  so  that  if  you 
fail,  you  may  know  exactly  in  what  the  failure  consists. 
Be  sure  that  you  spread  your  color  as  steadily  as  if  you 
were  painting  a  house  wall,  filling  in  every  spot  of  white 
to  the  extremest  corner,  and  removing  every  grain  of 
superfluous  color  in  nooks  and  along  edge^.  Then  when 
the  tint  is  dry,  you  will  be  able  to  say  that  it  is  either  too 


36  THE    LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

warm  or  cold,  paler  or  darker  than  you  meant  it  to  be. 
It  cannot  possibly  come  quite  right  till  you  have  long 
experience;  only,  let  there  be  no  doubt  in  your  mind  as 
to  the  point  in  which  it  is  wrong;  and  next  time  you 
will  do  better. 

21.  I  cannot  too  strongly,  or  too  often,  warn  you 
against  the  perils  of  affectation.  Sometimes  color  light- 
ly broken,  or  boldly  dashed,  will  produce  a  far  better 
instant  effect  than  a  quietly  laid  tint ;  and  it  looks  so 
dexterous,  or  so  powerful,  or  so  fortunate,  that  you  are 
sure  to  find  everybody  liking  your  work  better  for  its  in- 
solence. But  never  allow  yourself  in  such  things.  Effaco 
at  once  a  happy  accident — let  nothing  divert  you  from 
the  purpose  you  began  with — nothing  divert  or  confuse 
you  in  the  course  of  its  attainment ;  let  the  utmost  strengtli 
of  your  work  be  in  its  continence,  and  the  crowning 
grace  of  it  in  serenity. 

And  even  when  you  know  that  time  will  not  permit 
you  to  finish,  do  a  little  piece  of  your  drawing  rightly, 
rather  than  the  whole  falsely  :  and  let  the  non-completion 
consist  either  in  that  part  of  the  paper  is  left  white,  or 
that  only  a  foundation  has  been  laid  up  to  a  certain 
point,  and  the  second  colors  have  wot  gone  on.  Let 
your  work  be  a  good  outline — or  part  of  one;  a  good 
first  tint — or  part  of  one ;  but  not,  in  any  sense,  a  sketch  ; 
in  no  point,  or  measure,  fluttered,  neglected,  or  experi- 
mental. In  this  manner  you  will  never  be  in  a  state  of 
weak  exultation  at  an  undeserved  triumph ;  neither  will 
you  be  mortified  by  an  inexplicable  failure.  From  the 
beginning  you  will  know  that  more  than  moderate  success 
is  impossible,  and  that  when  you  fall  short  of  that  due 
degree,  the  reason  may  be  asceitained,  and  a  lesson  learned. 


IV.   FIRST   EXERCISE   IN   CURVES.  37 

As  far  as  my  own  experience  reaches,  the  greater  part  of 
the  fatigue  of  drawing  consists  in  doubt  or  disappoint- 
ment, not  in  actual  effort  or  reasonable  application  of 
thought ;  and  the  best  counsels  I  have  to  give  you  may 
be  summed  in  these— to  be  constant  to  your  first  purpose, 
content  with  the  skill  you  are  sure  of  commanding,  and 
desirous  only  of  the  praises  which  belong  to  patience  and 
discretion. 


CHAPTER  V. 

OF    ELEMENTARY   FORM. 

1.  IN  the  15th  paragraph  of  the  preceding  chapter, 
we  were  obliged  to  leave  the  drawing  of  our  ellipse  till 
we  had  done  some  more  compass  work.     For,  indeed,  all 
curves  of  subtle  nature  must  be  at  first  drawn  through 
such  a  series  of  points  as  may  accurately  define  them ; 
and  afterwards  without  points,  by  the  free  hand. 

And  it  is  better  in  first  practice  to  make  these  points 
for  definition  very  distinct  and  large;  and  even  some- 
times to  consider  them  rather  as  beads  strung  upon  the 
line,  as  if  it  were  a  thread,  than  as  mere  points  through 
which  it  passes. 

2.  It  is  wise  to  do  this,  not  only  in  order  that  the  points 
themselves  may  be  easily  and  unmistakably  set,  but  because 
all  beautiful  lines  are  beautiful,  or  delightful  to  sight,  in 
showing  the  directions  in  which  material  things  may  be 
wisely   arranged,    or  may   servicedbly   move.     Thus,   in 
Plate  1,  the  curve  which  terminates  the  hen's   feather 
pleases   me,    and   ought   to  please  you,   better  than   the 
point  of  the  shield,  partly  because  it  expresses  such  rela- 
tion between  the  lengths  of  the  filaments  of  the  plume  as 
may  fit  the  feather  to  act  best  upon  the  air,  for  flight ;  or, 
in  unison  with  other  such  softly  inlaid  armor,  for  cover- 
ing. 

3.  The  first  order  of  arrangement  in  substance  is  that 


A 


B 


Dra-<m  by  J  Riiskm.  tvgraved  by  G  Allen 

SCHOOLS  OF  ST  QEOR.OK. 

Elementary  Drawing,  Plate  111. 
PRIMAL    GROUPS   OF    THE    CIRCLE. 


V.    OF   ELEMENTARY   FORM.  39 

of  coherence  into  a  globe ;  as  in  a  drop  of  water,  in  rain, 
and  dew, — or,  hollow,  in  a  bubble:  and  this  same  kind  of 
coherence  takes  "place  gradually  in  solid  matter,  forming 
spherical  knots,  or  crystallizations.  Whether  in  dew,  foam, 
or  any  other  minutely  beaded  structure,  the  simple  form 
is  always  pleasant  to  the  human  mind;  and  the  '  pearl ' — 
to  which  the  most  precious  object  of  human  pursuit  is 
likened  by  its  wisest  guide — derives  its  delightfulness 
merely  from  its  being  of  this  perfect  form,  constructed  of 
a  substance  of  lovely  color. 

4r.  Then  the  second  orders  of  arrangement  are  those  in 
which  several  beads  or  globes  are  associated  in  groups 
under  definite  laws,  of  which  of  course  the  simplest  is 
that  they  should  set  themselves  together  as  close  as  pos- 
sible. 

Take,  therefore,  eight  marbles  or  be.ids*  about  three 
quarters  of  an  inch  in  diameter ;  and  place  successively 
two,  three,  four,  etc.,  as  near  as  they  will  go.  You  can 
but  let  the  first  two  touch,  but  the  three  will  form  a  tri- 
angular group,  the  four  a  square  one,  and  so  on,  up  to  the 
octagon.  These  are  the  first  general  types  of  all  crystalline 
or  inorganic  grouping :  you  must  know  their  properties 
well ;  and  therefore  you  must  draw  them  neatly. 

5.  Draw  first  the  line  an  inch  long,  which  you  have 
already  practised,  and  set  upon  it  five  dots,  two  large  and 
three  small,  dividing  it  into  quarter  inches, — A.  B,  Plate 
3.  Then  from  the  large  dots  as  centres,  through  tlu 
small  ones,  draw  the  two  circles  touching  each  other,  as 
at  C. 

*In  St.  George's  schools,  they  are  to  be  of  pale  rose-colored  or 
amber-colored  quartz,  with  the  prettiest  veins  I  can  find  it  bearing  : 
there  are  any  quantity  of  tons  of  rich  stone  ready  for  us,  waste  on  our 
beaches. 


40  THE    LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

The  triangle,  equal-sided,  each  side  half  an  inch,  and 
the  square,  in  the  same  dimensions,  with  their  dots,  and 
their  groups  of  circles,  are  given  in  succession  in  the 
plate  ;  and  you  will  proceed  to  draw  the  pentagon,  hexa- 
gon, heptagon,  and  octagon  group,  in  the  same  manner, 
all  of  them  half  an  inch  in  the  side.  All  to  be  done  with 
the  lead,  free  hand,  corrected  by  test  of  compasses  till 
you  get  them  moderately  right,  and  finally  drawn  over 
the  lead  with  common  steel  pen  and  ink. 

The  degree  of  patience  with  which  you  repeat,  to  per- 
fection, this  very  tedious  exercise,  will  be  a  wholesome 
measure  of  your  resolution  and  general  moral  temper,  and 
the  exercise  itself  a  discipline  at  once  of  temper  and  hand. 
On  the  other  hand,  to  do  it  hurriedly  or  inattentively  is 
of  no  use  whatever,  either  to  mind  or  hand. 

6.  While  you  are  persevering  in  this  exercise,  you  must 
also  construct  the  same  figures  with  your  instruments,  as 
;  delicately  as  you  can  ;  but  complete  them,  as  in  Plate  4, 
by  drawing  semicircles  on  the  sides  of  each  rectilinear 
figure  ;  and,  with  the  same  radius,  the  portions  of  circles 
which  will  include  the  angles  of  the  same  figures,  placed 
in  a  parallel  series,  enclosing  each  figure  finally  in  a  circle. 

7.  You  have  thus  the  first  two  leading  groups  of  what 
architects  call  Foils  ;  i.e.,  trefoils,  quatrefoils,  cinquefoils, 
etc.,  their  French  names  indicating  the  original  domin- 
ance of  French  design  in  their  architectural  use. 

The  entire  figures  may  be  best  called  '  Roses,5  the 
word  rose,  or  rose  window,  being  applied  by  the  French 
to  the  richest  groups  of  them.  And  yon  are  to  call  the 
point  which  is  the  centre  of  each  entire  figure  the  '  Rose 
centre.5  The  arcs,  you  are  to  call  < foils;'  the  centre.- 
of  the  arcs,  'foil-centres ;'  and  the  small  points  where 
the  arcs  meet,  '  cusps,'  from  cuspis,  Latin  for  a  point. 


SCHOOLS  OF  ST  GBOROE. 

Elementary   Drawing,  Plate  IV. 
PRIMAL    GROUPS  OF  FOILS   WITH   ARC-CENTRES. 


4:2  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

a  sheet  of  paper  in  this  arrangement  {Fig.  3),  as  evenly 
square  as  you  can. 

Now,  lift  one  up  out  of  its  place,  thus  (Fig.  4),  but  still 
keeping  it  in  contact  with  its  next  neighbor.  * 

You  don't  like  that  arrangement  so  well,  do  you  ? 
You  ought  not  to  like  it  so  well.  It  is  suggestive  of  one 
of  the  sixpences  having  got  "  liberty  and  independence." 
It  is  a  form  of  dissolution. 


FIG.  4. 

Next  push  up  one  of  the  coins  below,  so  as  to  touch  the 
one  already  raised,  as  in  Figure  5. 

You  dislike  this  group  even  more  than  the  last,  I 
should  think.  Two  of  the  sixpences  have  got  liberty 
and  independence  now  !  Two,  if  referred  to  the  first 
quatrefoil ;  or,  if  the  three  upper  ones  are  considered  as  a 
staggering  trefoil,  three. 

*  If  you  have  the  book,  compare  the  exercises  in  '  Ethics  of  the 
Dust, '  page  67. 


V.  OF   ELEMENTARY   FORM.  43 

Push  the  lower  one  up  to  join  them,  then  ;  Figure  6. 


FIG.  5. 


That  is  a  little  more  comfortable,  but  the  whole  figure 
seems  squinting  or  tumbling.     You  can't  let  it  stay  so  ! 


FIG.  6. 
Put  it  upright,  then  ;  Figure  7. 


44  THE    LAWS   OF    FESOLE. 

And  now  you  like  it  as  well  as  the  original  group,  or,  it 
may  be,  even  better.  You  ought  to  like  it  better,  for  it 
is  not  only  as  completely  under  law  as  the  original  group, 
but  it  is  under  two  laws  instead  of  one,  variously  deter- 
mining its  height  and  width.  The  more  laws  any  thing, 
or  any  creature,  interprets,  and  obeys,  the  more  beautiful 
it  is  (caeteris  paribus). 

10.  You  find  then,  for  first  conclusion,  that  you  natu- 
rally like  things  to  be  under  law  ;  and,  secondly,  that 


FIG.  7. 

your  feeling  of  the  pleasantness  in  a  group  of  separate, 
(and  not  living,)  objects,  like  this,  involves  some  refer- 
ence to  the  great  law  of  gravity,  which  makes  you  feel  it 
desirable  that  things  should  stand  upright,  unless  they 
have  clearly  some  reason  for  stooping. 

It  will,  however,  I  should  think,  be  nearly  indifferent 
to  you  whether  you  look  at  Figure  7  as  I  have  placed  it, 
or  from  the  side  of  the  page.  Whether  it  is  broad,  or 


V.   OF   ELEMENTARY   FORM.  45 

high  will  not  matter,  so  long  as  it  is  balanced.  But  you 
see  the  charm  of  it  is  increased,  in  either  case,  by  mequal- 
ity  of  dimension,  in  one  direction  or  another  ;  by  the  intro- 
duction, that  is  to  say,  of  another  law,  modifying  the  first. 
11.  Next,  let  us  take  five  sixpences,  which  we  see  will 
at  once  fall  into  the  pleasant  equal  arrangement,  Figure 
5,  Plate  iii.  ;  but  we  will  now  break  up  that,  by  putting 
four  together,  as  in  our  first  quatre-foil  here  ;  and  the 
fifth  on  the  top,  (Figure  8). 


FIG.  8. 

But  you  feel  this  new  arrangement  awkward.  The  up- 
permost circle  has  no  intelligible  connection  with  the 
group  below,  which,  as  a  foundation,  would  be  needlessly 
large  for  it.  If  you  turn  the  figure  upside-down,  how- 
ever, I  think  you  will  like  it  better  ;  for  the  lowest  circle 
now  seems  a  little  related  to  the  others,  like  a  pendant. 
But  the  form  is  still  unsatisfactory. 


46  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

Take  the  group  in  Figure  7,  above,  then,  and  add  the 
fifth  sixpence  to  the  top  of  that  (Fig.  9). 

Are  you  not  better  pleased  ?  There  seems  now  a  unity 
of  vertical  position  in  three  circles,  and  of  level  position 
in  two  :  and  you  get  also  some  suggestion  of  a  pendant, 
or  if  you  turn  the  page  upside-down,  of  a  statant,*  cross. 


FIG.  9. 

If,  however,  you  now  raise  the  two  level  circles,  and 
the  lowest,  so  as  to  get  the  arrangement  in  Figure  10,  the 

*  Clearly,  this  Latin  derivative  is  needed  in  English,  besides  our 
own  '  standing ;'  to  distinguish,  on  occasion,  a  permanently  fixed 
'  state  '  of  any  thing,  from  a  temporary  pause.  Slant,  (as  in  extant,) 
would  be  merely  the  translation  of  '  standing  ;'  so  I  assume  a  participle 
rf  the  obsolete  '  statare-'  to  connect  the  adopted  word  with  Statina, 
(the  goddess,)  Statue,  and  State. 


V.   OF   ELEMENTA^^M  47 


result  is  a  quite  balanced  group  ;  more  pleasing,  if  I  mis- 
take not,  than  any  we  have  arrived  at  yet,  because  we 
have  here  perfect  order,  with  an  unequal  succession  of 
magnitudes  in  mass  and  interval,  between  the  outer 
circles. 

12.  By  now  gradually  increasing  the  number  of  coins, 
we  can  deduce  a  large  variety  of  groups,  more  or  less 
pleasing,  which  you  will  find,  on  the  whole,  throw  them- 


FIG.  10. 

selves  either  into  garlanded  shapes, — seven,  eight,  and  so 
on,  in  a  circle,  with  differences  in  the  intervals  ; — or  into 
stellar  shapes,  of  which  the  simplest  is  the  cross,  and  the 
more  complex  will  be  composed  of  five,  six,  seven,  or 
more  rays,  of  various  length.  Then  farther,  successive 
garlands  may  be  added  to  the  garlands,  or  crossing  rays, 
producing  chequers,  if  we  have  unlimited  command  of 
sixpences.  But  by  no  artifice  of  arrangement  shall  we  be 


48  THE  LAWS  OF   FESOLE. 

able   to  produce  any  perfectly  interesting    or  beautiful 
form,  as  long  as  our  coins  remain  of  tfie  same  size. 

13.  But   now   take   some   foiirpenny   and   threepenny 
pieces  also  ;  and,  beginning  with  the  cross,   of  five  orbs 
(Fig.  10),  try  first  a  sixpence  in  the  middle,   with  four 
fourpenny  pieces  round  it  ;  and  then  a  foiirpenny  piece  in 
the  middle,  with  four  sixpences  round  it.     Either  group 
will  be  more  pleasing  to  you  than  the  original  one  :  and  by 
varying  the  intervals,  and  removing  the  surrounding  coins 
to  greater  or  less  distances,  you  may  pleasantly  vary  even 
this  single  group  to  a  curious  extent  ;  while  if  you  in- 
crease the  number  of  coins,  and  farther  vary  their  sizes, 
adding    shillings   and    half-crowns   to   your   original   re- 
sources, you  will  find  the  producible  variety  of  pleasant 
figures  quite  infinite. 

14.  But,  supposing  your  natural  taste  and  feeling  mod- 
erately good,  you  will  always  feel  some  of  the  forms  you 
arrive  at  to  be  pleasanter  than  others  ;  for  no  explicable 
reason,  but  that  there  is  relation  between  their  sizes  and 
distances  which  satisfies  you  as  being  under  some  harmo- 
nious law.     Up  to  a  certain  point,  I  could  perhaps  show 
you  logical  cause  for  these  preferences  ;  but  the  moment 
the  groups  become  really  interesting,  their  relations  will 
be  found  far  too  complex  for  definition,  and  our  choice  of 
one  or  another  can  no  more  be  directed  by  rule,  or  ex- 
plained by  reason,  than  the  degrees  of  enjoyment  can  be 
dictated,  or  the  reasons  for  admiration  demonstrated,  as 
we  look  from  Cassiopeia  to  Orion,  or  from  the  Pleiades  to 
Arcturus  with  his  sons. 

15.  Three  principles  only  you  will  find  certain  : 

A,  That  perfect  dependence  of  every  thing  on  every 
thing  else,  is  necessary  for  pleasantness. 


V.    OF   ELEMENTARY   FORM.  49 

B,  That  such  dependence  can  only  become  perfect 

by  means  of  differences  in  magnitude  (or 
other  qualities,  of  course,  when  others  are  in- 
troduced). 

C,  That  some  kind  of  balance,  or  (  equity,'  is  neces- 

sary for  our  satisfaction  in  arrangements  which 
are  clearly  subjected  to  human  interference. 

You  will  be  perhaps  surprised,  when  you  think  of  it,  to 
find  that  this  last  condition — human  interference, — is  very 
greatly  involved  in  the  principles  of  contemplative  pleas- 
ure ;  and  that  your  eyes  are  both  metaphysical,  and 
moral,  in  their  approval  and  blame.  4 

Thus,  you  have  probably  been  fastidious,  and  found  it 
necessary  to  be  so,  before  you  could  please  yourself  with 
enough  precision  in  balance  of  coin  against  coin,  and  of 
one  division  of  each  coin-group  against  its  fellow.  But 
you  would  not,  I  think,  desire  to  arrange  any  of  the  con- 
stellations I  have  just  named,  in  two  parallel  parts  ;  or  to 
make  the  rock-forms  on  one  side  of  a  mountain  valley, 
merely  the  reversed  images  of  those  upon  the  other  ? 

16.  Yet,  even  among  these,  you  are  sensible  of  a  kind 
of  order,  and  rejoice  in  it ;  nay,  you  find  a  higher  pleas- 
ure in  the  mystery  of  it.  You  would  not  desire  to  see 
Orion  and  the  Pleiades  broken  up,  and  scattered  over  the 
sky  in  a  shower  of  equal-sized  stars,  among  which  you 
could  no  more  trace  group,  or  line,  or  pre-eminence. 
Still  less  would  you  desire  to  see  the  stars,  though  of 
different  magnitudes,  arrested  on  the  vault  of  heaven  in  a 
chequer-pattern,  with  the  largest  stars  at  the  angles,  or 
appointed  to  rise  and  set  in  erected  ranks,  the  same  at 
zenith  and  horizon  ;  never  bowed,  and  never  supine. 

IT.  The  beautiful   passage    in   Humboldt's   '  Personal 


50  THE    LAWS   OF    FESOLE. 

Narrative  '  in  which  he  describes  the  effect  on  his  mind  of 
the  first  sight  of  the  Southern  Cross,  may  most  fitly  close, 
confirm,  and  illumine,  a  chapter  too  wearisome  ;  by 
which,  however,  I  trust  that  you  will  be  led  into  happier 
trust  in  the  natural  likings  and  dislikings  which  are  the 
proper  groundwork  of  taste  in  all  things,  finding  that,  in 
things  directly  prepared  for  the  service  of  men,  a  quite 
palpable  order  and  symmetry  are  felt  by  him  to  be  beauti- 
ful ;  but  in  the  things  which  involve  interests  wider  than 
his  own,  the  mystery  of  a  less  comprehensible  order  be- 
comes necessary  for  their  sublimity,  as,  for  instance,  the 
forms  of  mountains,  or  balances  of  stars,  expressing  their 
birth  in  epochs  of  creation  during  which  man  had  no  ex- 
istence, and  their  functions  in  preparing  for  a  future  state 
of  the  world,  over  which  he  has  no  control. 

"  We  saw  distinctly  for  the  first  time  the  Cross  of  the 
South  only,  in  the  night  of  the  4th  and  5th  of  July,  in 
the  sixteenth  degree  of  latitude  ;  it  was  strongly  inclined, 
and  appeared  from  time  to  time  between  the  clouds,  the 
centre  of  which,  furrowed  by  uncondensed  lightnings, 
reflected  a  silver  light. 

'  *  If  a  traveller  may  ~be  permitted  to  speak  of  his  per- 
sonal emotions,*  I  shall  add,  that  in  this  night  I  saw  one 
of  the  reveries  of  my  earliest  youth  accomplished. 
****** 

"  At  a  period  when  I  studied  the  heavens,  not  with  the 
intention  of  devoting  myself  to  astronomy,  but  only  to 
acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  stars,^  I  was  agitated  by  a 

*  I  italicise,  because  the  reserve  of  the  Personal  Narrative,  in  this 
respect,  is  almost  majestic  ;  and  entirely  exemplary  as  compared  with 
the  explosive  egotism  of  the  modem  tourist. 

f  Again  note  the  difference  between  modestly  useful,  and  vainly  am- 
bitious, study. 


V.    OF   ELEMENTARY   FORM.  51 

fear  unknown  to  those  who  love  a  sedentary  life.  It 
seemed  painful  to  me  to  renounce  the  hope  of  beholding 
those  beautiful  constellations  which  border  the  southern 
pole.  Impatient  to  rove  in  the  equinoctial  regions,  I 
could  not  raise  my  eyes  toward  the  starry  vault  without 
thinking  of  the  Cross  of  the  South,  and  without  recalling 
the  sublime  passage  of  Dante,  which  the  most  celebrated 
commentators  have  applied  to  this  constellation  : 

'  Io  mi  volsi  a  man  destra,  e  posi  ment. 
All'  altro  polo  ;  e  vidi  quattro.  stelle 
Non  viste  mai  fuor  ch'  alia  prima  gente 
Goder  parea  lo  ciel  di  lor  fiammelle  ; 
O  settentrional  vedovo  sito, 
Poi  che  private  se'  di  mirar  quelle  !' 

"  The  two  great  stars  which  mark  the  summit  and  the 
foot  of  the  Cross  having  nearly  the  same  right  ascension, 
it  follows  hence  that  the  constellation  is  almost  perpendic- 
ular at  the  moment  wThen  it  passes  the  meridian.  This 
circumstance  is  known  to  every  nation  that  lives  beyond 
the  tropics,  or  in  the  southern  hemisphere.  It  has  been 
observed  at  what  hour  of  the  night,  in  different  seasons, 
the  Cross  of  the  South  is  erect,  or  inclined.  It  is  a  time- 
piece that  advances  very  regularly  near  four  minutes  a 
day  ;  and  no  other  group  of  stars  exhibits,  to  the  naked 
eye,  an  observation  of  time  so  easily  made.  How  often 
have  we  heard  our  guides  exclaim,  in  the  savannahs  of  the 
Venezuela,  or  in  the  desert  extending  from  Lima  to 
Truxillo,  '  Midnight  is  past,  the  Cross  begins  to  bend  !  ' 
How  often  those  words  reminded  us  of  that  affecting 
scene  where  Paul  and  Virginia,  seated  near  the  source  of 
the  river  of  Latainers,  conversed  together  for  the  last 
time,  and  where  the  old  man,  at  the  sight  of  the  South- 
ern Cross,  warns  them  that  it  is  time  to  separate  !" 


CHAPTER  VT. 

OF   ELEMENTARY    ORGANIC   STRUCTURE. 

1.  AMONG  the  various  arrangements  made  of  the  coins  in 
our  last  experiment,  it  appeared  that  those  were  on  the 
whole  pleasantest  which  fell  into  some  crosslet  or  stellar 
disposition,  referred  to  a  centre.  The  reader  might  per- 
haps suppose  that,  in  making  him  feel  this,  I  was  prepar- 
ing the  way  for  assertion  of  the  form  of  the  cross,  as  a 
beautiful  one,  for  religious  reasons.  But  this  is  not  so. 
I  have  given  the  St.  George's  cross  for  first  practice,  that 
our  art-work  might  be  thus  early  associated  with  the  other 
studies  of  our  schools  ;  but  not  as  in  any  wise  a  dominant 
or  especially  beautiful  form.  On  the  contrary,  if  we  re- 
duce it  into  perfectly  simple  lines,  the  pure  cross"  (a  stellar 
group  of  four  lines  at  right  angles)  will  be  found  to  look 
meagre  when  compared  with  the  stellar  groups  of  five, 
six,  or  seven  rays  ;.  and,  in  fact,  its  chief  use,  when  em- 
ployed as  a  decoration,  is  not  in  its  possession  of  any  sym- 
bolic or  abstract  charm,  but  as  the  simplest  expression  of 
accurate,  and  easy,  mathematical  division  of  space.  It  is 
thus  of  great  value  in  the  decoration  of  severe  architec- 
ture, where  it  is  definitely  associated  with  square  masonry  : 
but  nothing  could  be  more  painful  than  its  substitution, 
in  the  form  of  tracery  bars,  for  the  stellar  tracery  of  any 
fine  rose  window  ;  though,  in  such  a  position,  its  symbolic 
office  would  be  perfect.  The  most  imaginative  and  re- 


VI.    OF   ELEMENTARY   ORGANIC   STRUCTURE.  53 

ligious  symbolist  will,  I  think,  be  surprised  to  find,  if  lie 
thus  tries  it  fairly,  how  little  symbolism  can  please,  if 
physical  beauty  be  refused. 

2.  Nor  do   1  doubt  that  the  author  of  the  book  on 
heraldry  above   referred  to,*    is  right  in  tracing  some  of 
the  earliest   forms   of  the  heraldic  cross  itself   "  to  the 
metal  clamps  or  braces  required  to  strengthen  and  protect 
the  long,  kite-shaped  shield  of  the  eleventh  and  twelfth 
centuries."    The  quartering  of  the  field,  which  afterwards 
became  the  foundation  of  the  arrangement  of  bearings, 
was  thus  naturally  suggested  by  the  laws  of  first  construc- 
tion.     But  the   '  Somerset   Herald  '  pushes  his  modern 
mechanics  too  far,  when  he  confuses  the  Cross  Fleury 
with  an  "  ornamental  clamp"  ?    (p.  49).      It  is  directly 
traceable  to  the  Byzantine  Fleur-de-lys,  and  that  to  Ho- 
mer's Iris. 

3.  So  also  with  respect  to  the  primary  forms  of  crys- 
tals, the  pleasure  of  the  eye  in  perceiving  that  the  several 
lines  of  a  group  may  be  traced  to  some  common  centre  is 
partly  referable  to  our  mere  joy  in  orderly  construction  : 
but,  in  our  general  judgment  of  design,  it  is  founded  on 
our  sense  of  the  nature  of  radiant  light  and  heat  as  the 
strength  of  all  organic  life,  together  with  our  interest  in  no- 
ticing either  growth  from  a  common  root  in  plants,  or  de- 
pendence on  a  nervous  or  otherwise  vital  centre  in  animal 
organism,  indicating  not  merely  order  of  construction,  but 
process  or  sequence  of  animation. 

4.  The  smallest  number  of  lines  which  can  completely 
express  this  law  of  radiationf  is  five  ;  or  if  a  completely 

'  Pursuivant  of  Arms, '  p.  48. 

t  The  groups  of  three,  though  often  very  lovely,  do  not  clearly  ex- 
press radiation,  but  simply  cohesion  ;   because  by  merely  crowding 


54  THE   LAWS  OF   FESOLE. 

opposite  symmetry  is  required,  six  ;  and  the  families  of 
all  the  beautiful  flowers  prepared  for  the  direct  service  and 
delight  of  man  are  constructed  on  these  two  primary 
schemes, — the  rose  representing  the  cinqfold  radiation, 
and  the  lily  the  sixfold,  (produced  by  the  two  triangles  of 
the  sepals  and  petals,  crossed,  in  the  figure  called  by  the 
Arabs  l  Solomon's  Seal');  while  the  fourfold,  or  cruci- 
form, are  on  the  whole  restricted  to  more  servile  utility. 
One  plant  only,  that  I  know  of,  in  the  Rose  family, — the 
tormentilla, — subdues  itself  to  the  cruciform  type  with  a 
grace  in  its  simplicity  which  makes  it,  in  mountain  pas- 
tures, the  fitting  companion  of  the  heathbell  and  thyme. 

5.  I  shall  have  occasion  enough,  during  the  flower  study 
carried  on  in  '  Proserpina, '  to  analyze  the  laws  of  stellar 
grouping  in  flowers.     In  this  book  I  shall  go  on  at  once 
to  the  more  complex  forms  produced  by  radiation  under 
some  continually  altering  force,  either  of  growth  from  a 
root,  or  of  motion  from  some  given  point  under  given  law. 

We  will  therefore  return  to  our  feather  from  the  hen's 
wing,  and  try  to  find  out,  by  close  examination,  why  we 
think  it,  and  other  feathers,  pretty. 

6.  You  must  observe  first  that  the  feathers  of  all  birds 
fall  into  three  great  classes  : 

(1)  The  Feathers  for  Clothing. 

(2)  The  Feathers  for  Action. 

(3)  The  Feathers  for  Ornament. 

(1)  Feathers  for  clothing  are  again  necessarily  divided 
into  (A)  those  which  clothe  for  warmth,  (down,)  which  are 

three  globes  close  to  each  other,  you  at  once  get  a  perfect  triune  form  ; 
but  to  put  them  in  a  circle  of  five  or  more,  at  equal  distances  from  a 
centre,  requires  an  ordering  and  proportionate  force. 


VI.    OF   ELEMENTARY   ORGANIC   STRUCTURE.  55 

the  birds'  blankets  and  flannel  ;  and  (B)  those  which  clothe 
it  for  defence  against  weather  or  violence  ;  these  last  bear- 
ing a  beautiful  resemblance  partly  to  the  tiles  of  a  house, 
partly  to  a  knight's  armor.  They  are  imbricated  against 
rain  and  wind,  like  tiles  ;  but  they  play  and  move  over 
each  other  like  mail,  actually  becoming  effective  armor  to 
many  of  the  warrior  birds  ;  as  in  the  partial  protection  of 
others  from  impact  of  driven  boughs,  or  hail,  or  even  shot. 

(2)  Feathers  for  action.     These  are  essentially,  again, 
either  (A)  feathers  of  force,  in  the  wing,  or  (B)  of  guid- 
ance, in  the  tail,  and  are  the  noblest  in  structure  which 
the  bird  possesses. 

(3)  Feathers  for  ornament.     These  are,  again,  to  be  di- 
vided into  (A),  those  which  modify  the  bird's  form,  (being 
then  mostly  imposed  as  a  crest  on  the  head,  or  expanded 
as  a  fan  at  the  tail,  or  floating  as  a  train  of  ethereal  soft- 
ness,) and  (B)  those  which  modify  its  color  ;  these  last  be- 
ing, for  the  most  part,  only  finer  conditions  of  the  armor 
feathers  on  the  neck,  breast,  and  back,  while  the  force- 
feathers  usually  are  reserved  and  quiet  in  color,  though 
more  or  less  mottled,  clouded,  or  barred. 

7.  Before  proceeding  to  any  closer  observation  of  these 
three  classes  of  feathers,  the  student  must  observe  gen- 
erally how  they  must  all  be  modified  according  to  the 
bird's  size.  Chiefly,  of  course,  the  feathers  of  action, 
since  these  are  strictly  under  physical  laws  determining 
the  scale  of  organic  strength.  It  is  just  as  impossible  for 
a  large  bird  to  move  its  wings  with  a  rapid  stroke,  as  for 
the  sail  of  a  windmill,  or  of  a  ship,  to  vibrate  like  a  lady's 
fan.  Therefore  none  but  small  birds  can  give  a  vibratory 
(or  insect-like)  motion  to  their  wings.  On  the  other 
hand,  none  but  large  birds  can  sail  without  stroke,  because 


56  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

small  wings  can  lot  rest  on  a  space  of  air  large  enough  to 
sustain  the  bod} 

8.  Therefore,  broadly,  first  of  all,  birds  range — with 
relation   to  thei]    flight — into  three  great  classes  :  (A)  the 
sailing  birds,  who,   having  given  themselves  once  a  for- 
ward impulse,  can  rest,  merely  with  their  wings  open,  on 
the  winds  and  clouds  ;    (B)  the  properly  so-called  flying 
birds,  who  must  strike  with  their  wings,  no  less  to  sustain 
themselves  than  to  advance  ;  and,  lastly,  (c)  the  fluttering 
birds,  who  can  keep  their  wings  quivering  like  those  of  a 
fly,  and  therefore  pause  at  will,  in  one  spot  in  the  air, 
over  a  flower,  or  over  their  nest.     And  of  these  three 
classes,  the  first  are  necessarily  large  birds  (frigate-bird, 
albatross,  condor,  and  the  like)  ;   the  second,  of  average 
bird-size,  falling  chiefly  between  the  limiting  proportions 
of  the  swallow  and  seagull ;  for  a  smaller  bird  than  the 
swift  has  not  power  enough  over  the  air,  and  a  larger  one 
than  the  seagull  has  not  power  enough  over  its  wings,  to 
be  a  perfect  flyer. 

Finally,  the  birds  of  vibratory  wing  are  all  necessarily 
minute,  represented  chiefly  by  the  humming-birds  ;  but 
sufficiently  even  by  our  own  smaller  and  sprightlier  pets  : 
the  robin's  quiver  of  his  wing  in  leaping,  for  instance,  is 
far  too  swift  to  be  distinctly  seen. 

9.  These  are  the  three  main  divisions  of  the  birds  for 
whom  the  function  of  the  wing  is  mainly  flight. 

But  to  us,  human  creatures,  there  is  a  class  of  birds 
more  pathetically  interesting — those  in  whom  the  function 
of  the  wing  is  essentially,  not  flight,  but  the  protection  of 
their  young. 

Of  these,  the  two  most  familiar  to  us  are  the  domestic 
fowl  and  the  partridge  ;  and  there  is  nothing  in  arrange- 


VI.    OF   ELEMENTARY   ORGANIC   STRUCTURE.  57 

ment  of  plumage  approaching  the  exquisiteness  of  that  in 
the  vaulted  roofs  of  their  expanded  covering  wings  ;  nor 
does  any  thing  I  know  in  decoration  rival  the  consummate 
art  of  the  minute  cirrus-clouding  of  the  partridge's  breast. 

10.  But  before  we  can  understand  either  the  structure 
of  the  striking  plumes,  or  the  tincture  of  the  decorative 
ones,  we  must  learn  the  manner  in  which  all  plumes  what- 
soever are  primarily  made. 

Any  feather — (as  you  know,  but  had  better  nevertheless 
take  the  first  you  can  find  in  your  hand  to  look  at,  as  you 
read  on) — is  composed  of  a  central  quill,  like  the  central 
rib  of  a  leaf,  with  fine  rays  branching  from  it  on  each 
side,  united,  if  the  feather  be  a  strong  one,  into  a  more 
or  less  silky  tissue  or  (  web,'  as  it  has  hitherto  been  called 
by  naturalists.*  Not  unreasonably,  in  some  respects  ;  for 

*  So  far  as  one  can  make  out  what  they  call  any  thing  !  The  follow- 
ing lucid  passage  is  all  that  in  the  seven  hundred  closely  printed  pages 
of  Mr.  Swainson's  popular  ornithology,  the  innocent  reader  will  find 
vouchsafed  to  him  in  description  of  feathers  (§  71,  p.  77,  vol.  1)  :— 
"  The  regular  external  feathers  of  the  body,  like  those  of  the  wings  and 
tail,  are  very  differently  constructed  from  such  as  are  called  the  down  ; 
they  are  externally  composed  of  three  parts  or  substances  :  1.  The 
down  ;  2.  The  laminae,  or  webs  (!) ;  and,  3.  The  shaft,  or  quill,  on  the 
sides  of  which  the  two  former  are  arranged.  The  downy  laminae,  or 
webs  of  these  feathers,  are  very  different  from  the  substance  we  have 
just  described,  since  they  not  only  have  a  distinct  shaft  of  their  own, 
but  the  laminae  which  spring  from  both  sides  of  it  are  perceptibly  and 
regularly  arranged,  although,  from  being  devoid  of  all  elasticity,  (!)  like 
true  down,  they  do  not  unite  and  repose  parallel  to  each  other.  The 
soft  downy  laminae  are  always  situated  close  to  the  insertion  of  the 
quill  into  the  skin  ;  and  although,  for  obvious  reasons,  they  are  more 
developed  on  those  feathers  which  cover  the  body,  they  likewise  exist 
on  such  as  are  employed  in  flight,  as  shown  in  the  quill  of  a  goose  ; 
and  as  they  are  always  concealed  from  sight  when  the  plumage  is  un- 
injured, and  are  not  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  air,  so  they  are  al- 


58  THE    LAWS   OF    FESOLE. 

truly  it  is  a  woven  thing,  with  a  warp  and  woof,  beautiful 
as  Penelope's  or  Arachne's  tapestry  ;  but  with  this  of 
marvel  beyond  beauty  in  it,  that  it  is  a  web  which  re- 
weaves  itself  when  you  tear  it  !  Closes  itself  as  perfectly 
as  a  sea- wave  torn  by  the  winds,  being  indeed  nothing  else 
than  a  wave  of  silken  sea,  which  the  winds  trouble  enough  ; 
and  fret  along  the  edge  of  it,  like  fretful  Benacus  at  its 
shore  ;  but  which,  tear  it  as  they  will,  closes  into  its  un- 
ruffledr  strength  again  in  an  instant. 

11.  There  is  a  problem  for  you,  and  your  engines, — 
good  my  Manchester  friends  !  What  with  Thirlmere  to 
fill  your  boilers,  and  cotton  grown  by  free  niggers,  surely 
the  forces  of  the  universe  must  be  favorable  to  you, — and, 
indeed,  wholly  at  your  disposal.  Yet  of  late  I  have  heard 
that  your  various  tissues  tear  too  easily  ; — how  if  you 
could  produce  them  such  as  that  they  could  mend  them- 
selves again  without  help  from  a  sewing-machine  !  (for  1 
find  my  glove -fingers,  sewn  up  the  seam  by  that  great 
economist  of  labor,  split  down  all  at  once  like  walnut-shells). 

ways  colorless.  The  third  part  of  a  feather  consists  in  the  true  external 
laminae,  which  are  arranged  in  two  series,  one  on  each  side  the  shaft ; 
and  these  sides  are  called  the  external  and  the  internal  (!  !)  webs.  To 
outward  appearance,  the  form  of  the  lamiuae  which  compose  these 
webs  appears  to  be  much  the  same  as  that  of  down,  which  has  been 
just  described,  wi£h  this  difference  only,  that  the  laminae  are  stronger 
and  elastic,  and  seem  to  stick  together,  and  form  a  parallel  series, 
which  the  downy  lamina?  do  not.  Now,  this  s'ngular  adhesiveness  is 
seen  by  the  microscope  to  be  occasioned  by  the  filaments  on  each  side 
of  these  lamina?  being  hooked  into  those  of  the  next  laminae,  so  that 
one  supports  the  other  in  the  same  position  ;  while  their  elasticity  (!) 
makes  them  return  to  their  proper  place  in  the  series,  if  by  any  acci- 
dent they  are  discomposed.  This  will  be  sufficient  to  give  the  reader 
a  correct  idea  of  the  general  construction  of  a  feather,  without  going 
into  further  details  on  the  microscopic  appearance  of  the  parts." 


VI.    OF   ELEMENTARY   ORGANIC   STRUCTURE.  59 


But  even  that  Arabian  web  which  could 
walnut-shell  would  have  no  chance  of  rivalling  with  yours 
if  you  could  match  the  delicate  spirit  that  weaves  —  a  spar- 
row's wing.  (I  suppose  you  have  no  other  birds  to  look 
at  now  —  within  fifty  miles.) 

However,  from  the  bodies  of  birds,  plucked  for  eating 
—  or  the  skins  of  them,  stuffed  for  wearing,  I  do  not  doubt 
but  the  reader,  though  inhabitant  of  modern  English 
towns,  may  still  possess  himself,  or  herself,  of  a  feather 
large  enough  to  be  easily  studied  ;*  nay,  I  believe  British 
Law  still  indites  itself  with  the  legitimate  goose-feather. 
If  that  be  attainable,  with  grateful  reverence  to  law,  in 
general,  and  to  real  Scripture,  which  is  only  possible  with 
quill  or  reed  ;  and  to  real  music,  of  Doric  eagerness, 
touched  of  old  for  the  oaks  and  rills,  while  the  still  morn 
went  out  with  sandals  gray,  —  we  will  therewith  begin  our 
inquiry  into  the  weaving  of  plumes. 

12.  And  now,  for  convenience  of  description,  observe, 
that  as  all  feathers  lie  backwards  from  the  bird's  head  to- 
wards its  tail,  when  we  hold  one  in  our  hand  by  the  point 
of  the  quill  so  as  to  look  at  its  upper  surface,  we  are  vir- 
tually looking  from  the  bird's  head  towards  the  tail  of  it  : 
therefore,  unless  with  warning  of  the  contrary,  1  shall  al- 
ways describe  the  feathers  which  belong  to  the  bird's 
right  side,  which,  when  we  look  down  on  its  back  and 
wing,  with  the  head  towards  us,  curve  for  the  most  part 
with  the  convex  edge  to  our  own  left  ;  and  when  we  look 
down  on  its  throat  and  breast,  with  the  head  towards  us, 
curve  for  the  most  part  with  the  convex  edge  to  our 
right. 

*  My  ingenious  friend,  Mr.  W.  E.  Dawes,  of  72  Denmark  Hill,  will 
attend  scrupulously  to  a  feather,  to  any  orders  sent  him  from  Fesole. 


60  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

13.  Choosing,  therefore,  a  goose-feather  from  the  bird's 
right  wing,  and  holding  it  with  the  upper  surface  up- 
wards, you  see  it  curves  to  your  own  right,  with  convex 
edge  to  the  left  ;    and  that  it  is  composed  mainly  of  the 
rapidly  tapering  quill,  with  its  two  so-called  i  webs,'  one 
on  each  side,  meeting  in  a  more  or  less  blunt  point  at  the 
top,  like  that  of  a  kitchen  carving-knife. 

14.  But  I  do  not  like  the  word  '  web  '  for  these  tissues 
of  the  feather,  for  two  reasons  :    the  first,  that  it  would 
get  confused  with  the  word  we  must  use  for  the  mem- 
brane of  the  foot  ;  and  the  second,  that  feathers  of  force 
continually  resemble    swords  or  scimitars,  striking   both 
with  flat  and  edge  ;  and  one  cannot  rightly  talk  of  striking 
with  a  web  !     And  I  have  been  a  long  time  (this  number 
of  Fesole  having,  indeed,  been  materially  hindered  by  this 
hesitation)  in  deciding  upon  any  name  likely  to  be  accept- 
able to  my  readers  for  these  all-important  parts  of  the 
plume   structure.     The   one   I   have  at  last  fixed  upon, 
*  Fret,'*   will  not  on  the  instant  approve  itself  to  them  ; 
but  they  will  be  content  with  it,  I  believe,  in  use.     I  take 
it  from  the  constant  fretting  or  rippling  of  the  surface  of 
the  tissue,  even  when  it  is  not  torn  along  its  edge,f  and 
one   can   fancy   a   sword    '  fretted '    at   its   edge,    easily 
enough. 

15.  The  two  frets  are  composed,  you  see,  each  of — (I 
was   going   to   write,  innumerable  ;    but   they   are   quite 
numerable,   though  many,) — smaller  feathers  ;    for  they 
are  nothing  lese,  each  of  them,  than  a  perfect  little  feather 
in  its  own  way.       You  will  find  it  convenient  to  call  these 

*  '  Vane  '  is  used  in  the  English  translation  of  Cuvier  ;  but  would 
be  too  apt  to  suggest  rotation  in  the  quill,  as  in  a  weathercock, 
f  See  '  Love's  Meinie,'  Lecture  1.,  page  33. 


VI.    OF   ELEMENTARY   ORGANIC   STRUCTURE.  61 

the  '  rays.'  In  a  goose's  feather  there  are  from  thirty  to 
forty  in  an  inch  of  the  fret  ;  three  or  four  hundred,  that 
is  to  say,  on  each  side  of  the  quill.  You  see — and  much 
more,  may  feel  — how  firmly  these  plumelets  fasten  them- 
selves together  to  form  the  continuous  strength  of  silken 
tissue  of  the  fret. 

16.  Pull  one  away  from  the  rest,  and  you  iind  it  com- 
posed of  a  white  piece  of  the  substance  of  the  quill,  ex- 
tended into  a  long,  slightly  hollowed  strip,  something  like 
the  awn  of  a  grain  of  oats— each  edge  of  this  narrow  white 
strip  being  fringed  with  an  exquisitely  minute  series  of 
minor  points,  or  teeth,  like  the  teeth  of  a  comb,  becoming 
softer  and  longer  towards  the  end  of  the  ray,  where  also 
the  flat,  chaff -like  strip   of  quill  becomes  little  more  than 
a  fine  rod. 

Again,  for  names  clear  and  short  enough  to  be  pleas- 
antly useful,  I  was  here  much  at  a  loss,  and  cannot  more 
satisfactorily  extricate  myself  than  by  calling  the  awnlike 
shaft  simply  the  '  Shaft  ;'  and  the  fine  points  of  its  ser- 
rated edges,  (and  whatever,  in  other  feathers,  these  be- 
come,) '  Barbs.' 

17.  If,  with  a  sharp  pair  of  scissors,  you  cut  the  two  frets 
away  from  the  quill,  down  the  whole  length  of  it,  you  will 
find  the  frets  still  hold  together,  inlaid,  woven  together  by 
their  barbs  into  a  white  soft  riband, — feeling  just  like  satin 
to  the  finger,  and  looking  like  it  on  the  under  surface,  which 
is  exquisitely  lustrous  and  smooth.     And  it  needs  a  lens  of 
some  power  to  show  clearly  the  texture  of  the  fine  barbs 
that  weave  the  web,  as  it  used  to  be  called,  of  the  whole. 

Nevertheless,  in  the  goose  feather,  the  rays  terminate 
somewhat*  irregularly  and  raggedly  ;  and  it  will  be  better 
now  to  take  for  further  examination  the  plume  of  a  more 


62  THE   LAWS   OF  FfiSOLE. 

strongly  flying  bird.  I  take  that  of  the  common  seagull,* 
where,  in  exquisite  gray  and  dark-brown,  the  first  ele- 
ments of  variegation  are  also  shown  at  the  extremity  of 
the  plume. 

18.  And  here  the  edge  of  the  fret  is  rippled  indeed, 
but  not  torn  ;   the  quill  tapers  with  exquisite  subtlety  ; 
and  another  important  part  of  plumage  occurs  at  the  root 
of  it.     There  the  shafts  of  the  rays  loose  their  stiffness 
and  breadth  ;  they  become  mere  threads,   on  which  the 
barbs  become  long  and  fine  like  hairs  ;    and  the  wrhole 
plumelet  becomes  a  wavy,  wild- wandering  thing,  each  at 
last  entangled  with  its  fluttering  neighbors,  and  forming 
what  we  call  the  '  down  '  of  the  feather,  where  the  bird 
needs  to  be  kept  warm. 

19.  When    the   shafts   change   into    these    wandering 
threads,  they  will  be  called  filaments  ;    and  the   barbs, 
when  they  become  fine  detached  hairs,  will  be  called  cilia. 
I  am  very  sorry  to  have  all  this  nomenclature  to  inflict  at 
once  ;  but  it  is  absolutely  needful,  all  of  it  ;  nor  difficult 
to  learn,  if  you  will  only  keep  a  feather  in  your  hand  as 
you  learn  it.     A  feather  always  consists  of  the  quill  and  its 
rays  ;    a  ray,  of  the  shaft  and  its  barbs.     Flexible  shafts 
are  filaments  ;  and  flexible  barbs,  cilia. 

20.  In  none  of  the  works  which  I  at  present  possess  on 
ornithology,  is  any  account  given  of  the  general  form  or 
nature  of  any  of  these  parts  of  a  plume  ;    although  of  all 
subjects  for  scientific  investigation,  supremely  serviceable 
to  youth,  this  is,  one  should  have  thought,  the  nearest 
and  most  tempting,  to  any  person  of  frank  heart.     To  be- 
gin with  it,  we  must  think  of  all  feathers  first  as  exactly 

*  Larus  Canus,  (Limiams,)  '  White  Seamew.'     St.  George's  English 
name  for  it. 


VI.    OF   ELEMENTARY  ORGANIC  STRUCTURE.  63 

intermediate  between  the  fur  of  animals  and  scales  of 
fish.  They  are  fur,  made  strong,  and  arranged  in  scales 
or  plates,  partly  defensive  armor,  partly  active  instru- 
ments of  motion  or  action.*  And  there  are  definitely 
three  textures  of  this  strengthened  fur,  variously  pleasura- 
ble to  the  eye  :  the  first,  a  dead  texture  like  that  of  simple 
silk  in  its  cocoon,  or  wool  ;  receptant  of  pattern  colors  in 
definite  stain,  as  in  the  thrush  or  partridge  ;  secondly,  a  tex- 
ture like  that  of  lustrous  shot  silk,  soft,  but  reflecting  differ- 
ent colors  and  different  lights,  as  in  the  dove,  pheasant,  and 
peacock  ;  thirdly,  a  quite  brilliant  texture,  flaming  like  met- 
al— nay,  sometimes  more  brightly  than  any  polished  armor  ; 
and  this  also  reflective  of  different  colors  in  different 
lights,  as  in  the  humming-bird.  Between  these  three  typ- 
ical kinds  of  lustre,  there  is  every  gradation  ;  the  tender 
lustre  of  the  dove's  plumage  being  intermediate  between 
the  bloomy  softness  of  the  partridge,  and  the  more  than 
rainbow  iridescence  of  the  peacock  ;  while  the  semi-me- 
tallic, unctuous,  or  pitchy  lustre  of  the  raven,  is  midway 
between  the  silken  and  metallic  groups.  . 

21:  These  different  modes  of  lustre  and  color  depend 
entirely  on  the  structure  of  the  barbs  and  cilia.  I  do  not 
often  invite  my  readers  to  use  a  microscope  ;  but  for 
once,  and  for  a  little  while,  we  will  take  the  tormenting  aid 
of  it. 

In  all  feathers  used  for  flight,  the  barbs  are  many  and 

*  Compare  '  Love's  Meinie,'  Lecture  I.,  pp.  28,  29  ;  but  I  find  my- 
self now  compelled  to  give  more  definite  analysis  of  structure  by  the 
entirely  inconceivable,  (till  one  discovers  it,)  absence  of  any  such 
analysis  in  books  on  birds.  Their  writers  all  go  straight  at  the  bones, 
like  hungry  dogs  ;  and  spit  out  the  feathers  as  if  they  were  choked  by 
them. 


64:  THE    LAWS   OF    FESOLE. 

minute,  for  the  purpose  of  locking  the  shafts  well  to- 
gether. But  in  covering  and  decorative  plumes,  they 
themselves  become  principal,  and  the  shafts  subordinate. 
And,  since  of  flying  plumes  we  have  first  taken  the  sea- 
gull's wing  feather,  of  covering  plumes  we  will  first  take 
one  from  the  seagull's  breast. 

22.  I  take  one,  therefore,  from  quite  the  middle  of  a 
seamew's  breast,  where  the  frets  are  equal  in  breadth  on 
each  side.     You  see,  first,  that  the  whole  plume  is  bent 
almost  into  the  shape  of  a  cup  ;  and  that  the  soft  white 
lustre  plays  variously  on  its  rounded  surface,  as  you  turn 
it  more  or  less  to  the  light.     This  is  the  first  condition  of 
all  beautiful  forms.     Until  you  can  express  this  rounded 
surface,  you  need  riot  think  you  can  draw  them  at  all. 

^Z^Z^s?^^ 

FIG.  11. 

23.  But  for  the  present,  I  only  want  you  to  notice  the 
structure  and  order  of  its  rays.     Any  single  shaft  with  its 
lateral  barbs,  towards  the  top  of  the  feather,  you  will  find 
approximately  of  the  form  Fig.  11,  the  central  shaft  being 
so  fine  that  towards  the  extremity  it  is  quite  lost  sight  of  ; 
and  the  end  of  the  rays  being  not  formed  by  the  extrem- 
ity of  the  shaft,  with  barbs  tapering  to  it,  but  by  the 
forked  separation,  like  the  notch  of  an  arrow,  of  the  two 
ultimate  barbs. 

Which,  please,  observe  to  be  indeed  the  normal  form 
of  all  feathers,  as  opposed  to  that  of  leaves  ;  so  that  the 
end  of  a  feather,  however  finely  disguised,  is  normally  as 
at  A,  Fig.  12  ;  but  of  a  leaf,  as  at  B  ;  the  arrow-like  form 
of  the  feather  being  developed  into  the  most  lovely  dupli- 


VI.    OF   ELEMENTAKY   ORGANIC   STRUCTURE.  65 

cated  symmetries  of  outline  and  pattern,  by  which, 
throughout,  the  color  designs  of  feathers,  and  of  floral 
petals,  (which  are  the  sign  of  the  dual  or  married  life  in 
the  flower,  raising  it  towards  the  rank  of  animal  nature,) 


FIG.  12. 

are  distinguished  from  the  color  designs  in  minerals,  and 
in  merely  wood-forming,  as  opposed  to  floral,  or  seed- 
forming,  leaves. 

24:.  You  will  observe  also,  in  the  detached  ray,  that  the 
barbs  lengthen  downwards,  and  most  distinctly  from  the 
middle  downwards  ;  and  now  taking  up  the  wing-feather 
again,  you  will  see  that  its  frets  being  constructed  by  the 
imbrication,  or  laying  over  each  other  like  the  tiles  of  a 
house,  of  the  edges  of  the  successive  rays, — on  the  upper 


FIG.  13. 

or  outer  surface  of  the  plume,  the  edges  are  overlaid 
towards  the  plume-£><9m£,  like  breaking  waves  over  each 
other  towards  shore  ;  and  of  course,  on  the  under  surface, 
reversed,  and  overlaid  towards  the  root  of  the  quill. 


6G 


THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 


Yon  may  understand  this  in  a  moment  by  cutting  out 
roughly  three  little  bits  of  cardboard,  of  this  shape  (Fig. 
13),  and  drawing  the  directions  of  the  barbs  on  them  :  I. 
cut  their  ends  square  because  they  are  too  short  to  rep- 
resent the  lengths  of  real  rays,  but  are  quite  long  enough 
to  illustrate  their  imbrication.  Lay  first  the  three  of 
them  in  this  position,  (Fig.  14,  A,)  with  their  points  to- 
wards yon,  one  above  the  other  ;  then  put  the  edge  of 
the  lowest  over  the  edge  of  that  above  it,  and  the  edge  of 
that  over  the  third,  so  as  just  to  show  the  central  shaft, 
and  you  will  get  three  edges,  with  their  barbs  all  vertical, 


FIG.  14. 


or  nearly  so  :  that  is  the  structure  of  the  plume's  upper 
surface.  Then  put  the  edges  of  the  farther  off  ones  over 
the  nearer,  and  you  get  three  edges  with  their  barbs  all 
transverse,  (Fig.  14,  B,)  which  is  the  structure  of  the 
plume's  lower  surface.  There  are,  of  course,  endless  sub- 
tleties and  changes  of  adjustment,  but  that  is  the  first 
general  law  to  be  understood. 

25.  It  follows,  as  a  necessary  consequence  of  this  ar- 
rangement, that  we  may  generally  speak  of  the  barbs  which 
form  the  upper  surface  of  the  feather  as  the  upper,  or 


VI.   OF  ELEMENTARY   ORGANIC   STRUCTURE.  67 

longitudinal,  barbs,  meaning  those  which  He  parallel  to 
the  quill,  pointing  to  the  end  of  the  feather  ;  and  of  those 
which  form  the  under  surface  of  the  feather  as  the  lower, 
or  transverse,  barbs, — lying,  that  is  to  say,  nearly  trans- 
versely across  the  feather,  at  right  angles  to  the  quill. 
And  farther,  as  you  see  that  the  quill  shows  itself  clearly 
projecting  from  the  under  surface  of  the  plume,  so  the 
shafts  show  themselves  clearly  projecting,  in  a  corduroy 
fashion,  on  the  under  surface  of  the  fret,  the  transverse 
barbs  being  seen  only  in  the  furrows  between  them. 

26.  Now,  I  should  think,  in  looking  carefully  at  this 
close  structure  of  quill  and  shaft,  you  will  be  more  and 
more  struck  by  their  resemblance  to  the  beams  and  tiles 
of  a  roof.  The  feather  is,  in  fact,  a  finely  raftered  and 
tiled  roof  to  throw  off  wind  and  rain  ;  and  in  a  large  fam- 
ily of  birds  the  wing  has  indeed  chiefly  a  roof's  office,  and 
is  not  only  raftered  and  tiled,  but  vaulted,  for  the  roof  of 
the  nursery.  Of  which  hereafter  ;  in  the  meantime,  get 
this  clearly  into  your  head,  that  on  the  upper  surface  of 
the  plume  the  tiles  are  overlaid  from  the  bird's  head  back- 
ward— so  as  to  have  their  edges  away  from  the  wind, -that 
it  may  slide  over  them  as  the  bird  flies  ; — and  the  furrows 
formed  by  the  barbs  lie  parallel  with  the  quill,  so  as  to 
give  the  least  possible  friction.  The  under  side  of  the 
plume,  you  may  then  always  no  less  easily  remember,  has 
the  transverse  barbs  ;  and  tile-edges  towards  the  bird's 
head.  The  beauty  and  color  of  the  plume,  therefore,  de- 
pend mainly  on  the  formation  of  the  longitudinal  barbs, 
as  long  as  the  fret  is  close  and  firm.  But  it  is  kept  close 
and  firm  throughout  only  in  the  wing  feathers  ;  expand- 
ing in  the  decorative  ones,  under  entirely  different  condi- 
tions. 


68  THE    LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

27.  Looking    more   closely   at   your   seamew's   breast- 
feather,  you  will  see  that  the  rays  lock  themselves  close 
only  in  the  middle  of  it  ;  and  that  this  close-locked  space 
is  limited  by  a  quite  definite  line,  outside  of  which  the 
rays  contract  their  barbs  into  a  thick  and  close  thread, 
each  such  thread  detached  from  its  neighbors,  and  form- 
ing a  snowy  fringe  of  pure  white,  while  the  close-locked 
part  is  toned,  by  the  shades  which  show  you  its  structure, 
into  a  silver  gray. 

Finally,  at  the  root  of  the  feather,  not  only  do  its  own 
rays  change  into  down,  but  underneath,  you  find  a  supple- 
mentary plume  attached,  composed  of  nothing  else  but 
down. 

28.  I  find  no  account,  in  any  of  my  books  on  birds,  of 
the   range   of    these   supplementary   under-pi  nines, — the 
bird's  body-clothing.     I  find  the  seagull  has  them  nearly 
all  over  its  body,  neck,  breast,  and  back  alike  ;  the  small 
feathers  on  the  head  are  nothing  else  than  down.     But 

O 

besides  these,  or  in  the  place  of  these,  some  birds  have 
down  covering  the  skin  itself  ;  with  which,  however,  the 
painter  has  nothing  to  do,  nor  even  with  the  supplemen- 
tary plumes  :  and  already  indeed  I  have  allowed  the  pupil, 
in  using  the  microscope  at"  all,  to  go  beyond  the  proper 
limits  of  artistic  investigation.  Yet,  while  we  have  the 
lens  in  our  hand,  put  on  for  once  its  full  power  to  look  at 
the  separate  cilia  of  the  down.  They  are  all  jointed  like 
canes  ;  and  have,  doubtless,  mechanism  at  the  joints 
which  no  eye  nor  lens  can  trace.  The  same  structure, 
modified,  increases  the  lustre  of  the  true  barbs  in  colored 
plumes. 

One  of  the  simplest  of  these  I  will  now  take,  from  the 
back  of  the  peacock,  for  a  first  study  of  plume-radiation. 


VI.   OF   ELEMENTARY   ORGANIC   STRUCTURE. 


69 


29.  Its  general  outline  is  that  of  the  Gorman  shield  p  A 
v  B,  Fig.  15  ;  but  within  this  outline,  the  frets  are  close- 
woven  only  within  the  battledore-shaped  space  p  a  v  ft  ; 
and  between  A  #,  and  5  B,  they  expand  their  shafts  into 
filaments,  and  their  barbs  into  cilia,  and  become  '  down. ' 

We  are  only  able  to  determine  the  arrangement  of  the 
shafts  within  this  closely- woven  space  p  a  v  5,  which  you 
will  find  to  be  typically  thus.  The  shafts  remaining  par- 
allel most  of  the  way  up,  towards  the  top  of  the  plume, 
gradually  throw  themselves  forward,  so  as  to  get  round 
without  gap.  But  as,  while  they  are  thus  getting  round, 


they  are  not  fastened  on  a  central  pivot  like  the  rays  of  a 
fan,  but  have  still  to  take,  each  its  ascending  place  on  the 
sides  of  the  quill,  we  get  a  method  of  radiation  which 
you  will  find  convenient  henceforward  to  call  '  plume- 
radiation,'  (Fig.  16,  B,)  which  is  precisely  intermediate 
between  two  other  great  modes  of  structure — shell-radia- 
tion, A,  and  frond-radiation,  c. 

30.  You  may  perhaps  have  thought  yourself  very 
hardly  treated  in  being  obliged  to  begin  your  natural  his- 
tory drawing  with  so  delicate  a  thing  as  a  feather.  But 


70 


THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 


yon  should  rather  be  very  grateful  to  me,  for  not  having 
given  yon,  instead,  a  bit  of  moss,  or  a  cockle-shell  !  -  The 
last,  which  yon  might  perhaps  fancy  the  easiest  of  the 
three,  is  in  reality  quite  hopelessly  difficult,  and  in  its 
ultimate  condition,  inimitable  by  art.  Bewick  can 
engrave  feathers  to  the  point  of  deceptive  similitude  ;  and 
Hunt  can  paint  a  birdVnest  built  of  feathers,  lichen,  and 
moss.  But  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  ever  attempted 
to  render  the  diverging  lines  which  have  their  origin  in 
the  hinge  of  the  commonest  bivalve  shell. 

31.   These  exactly  reverse  the  condition  of  frond  radia- 
tion ;    in  that,   while  the   frond-branch  is  thick   at   the 


origin,  and  diminishes  to  the  extremity,  the  shell  flutings, 
infinitely  minute  at  the  origin,  expand  into  vigorous  un- 
dulation at  the  edge.  But  the  essential  point  you  have 
now  to  observe  is,  that  the  shell  radiation  is  from  a  cen- 
tral point ,  and  has  no  supporting  or  continuous  stem  ; 
that  the  plume  radiation  is  a  combination  of  stem  and 
centre  ;  and  that  the  frond  radiation  has  a  stem  through- 
out, all  the  way  up.  It  is  to  be  called  frond,  not  tree, 
radiation,  because  trees  in  great  part  of  their  structure  are 
like  plumage,  whereas  the  fern-frond  is  entirely  and  accu- 
rately distinct  in  its  structure. 


DECORATIVE  PLUMAGE— 1    PEACOCK. 
Schools  of  St.  George.     Elementary   Drawing.     Plate.   V. 


VI.    OF   ELEMENTARY   ORGANIC   STRUCTURE.  71 

32.  And  now,  at  last,  I  draw  the  entire  feather  as  well 
as  1  can  in  lampblack,  for  an  exercise  to  you  in  that  mate- 
rial ;  putting  a  copy  of  the  first  stage  of  the  work  below 
it,  Plate  V.     This  lower  figure  may  be  with  advantage 
copied   by  beginners  ;    with   the  pencil  and  rather  dry 
lampblack,  over  slight  lead  outline  ;  the  upper  one  is  for 
advanced  practice,  though  such  minute  drawing,  where  the 
pattern  is  wrought  out  with  separate  lines,  is  of  course 
only  introductory  to  true  painter's  work.     But  it  is  the 
best  possible  introduction,  being  exactly  intermediate  be- 
tween  such   execution   as   Durer's,   of  the  wing  in  the 
greater   Fortune,    and   Turner's   or  Holbein's  with  the 
broad  pencil, — of  which  in  due  time. 

33.  Respecting  the  two  exercises  in  Plate  V.,  observe, 
the  lower  figure  is  not  an  outline  of  the  feather,  to  be 
filled  up  ;  it  is  the  first  stage  of  the  drawing  completed 
above  it.     In  order  to  draw  the  curves  of  the  shafts  har- 
moniously, you  must  first  put  in  a  smaller  number  of 
guiding  lines,  and  then  fill  in  between.     But  in  this  pri- 
mary state,  the  radiant  lines  cannot  but  remind  you,  if 
you  are   at   all   familiar   with   architecture,   of   a   Greek 
'  honey -suckle  '   ornament,  the   fact   being  that  the  said 
ornament  has  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  honey-suckles  ;  but 
is  a  general  expression  of  the  radiate  organic  power  of 
natural  forms,  evermore  delightful  to  human  eyes  ;  arid 
the  beauty  of  it  depends  on  just  as  subtle  care  in  bringing 
the  curves  into  harmonious  flow,  as  you  will  have  to  use 
in  drawing  this  plume. 

34.  Nevertheless,  that  students  possessing  some  already 
practised  power  may  not  be  left  without  field  for  its  exer- 
cise, I  have  given  in  Plate  VI.  an  example  of  the  use  of 
ink  and  lampblack  with  the  common  pen  and  broad  wash. 


T2  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

The  outline  is  to  be  made  with  common  ink  in  any  ordi- 
nary pen — steel  or  quill  does  not  matter,  if  not  too  fine — 
and,  after  it  is  thoroughly  dry,  the  shade  put  on  with  a 
single  wash,  adding  the  necessary  darks,  or  taking  out 
light  with  the  dry  brush,  as  the  tint  dries,  but  allowing  no 
retouch  after  it  is  once  dry.  The  reason  of  this  law  is, 
first,  to  concentrate  the  attention  on  the  fullest  possible 
expression  of  forms  by  the  tint  first  laid,  which  is  always 
the  pleasantest  that  can  be  laid,  and,  secondly,  that  the 
shades  may  be  all  necessarily  gradated  by  running  into  the 
wet  tint,  and  no  edge  left  to  be  modified  afterwards. 
The  outline,  that  it  may  be  indelible,  is  made  with  com- 
mon ink  ;  its  slight  softening  by  the  subsequent  wash  be- 
ing properly  calculated  on  :  but  it  must  not  be  washed 
twice  over. 

35.  The  exercise  in  the  lower  figure  of  Plate  I.  is  an 
example  of  Durer's  manner  ;  but  I  do  not  care  to  compel 
the  pupil  to  go  through  much  of  this,  because  it  is  always 
unsatisfactory  at  its  finest.  Durer  himself  has  to  indicate 
the  sweep  of  his  plume  with  a  current  external  line  ;  and 
even  Bewick  could  not  have  done  plume  patterns  in  line, 
unless  he  had  had  the  advantage  of  being  able  to  cut  out 
his  white  ;  but  with  the  pencil,  and  due  patience  in  the 
use  of  it,  every  thing  linear  in  plumes  may  be  rightly  in- 
dicated, and  the  pattern  followed  all  the  time. 

The  minute  moss-like  fringe  at  the  edge  of  the  feather 
in  Plate  V.  introduces  us,  however,  to  another  condition 
of  decorative  plumage,  which,  though  not  bearing  on  our 
immediate  subject  of  radiation,  we  may  as  well  notice  at 
once. 

If  you  examine  a  fine  tail-feather  of  the  peacock,  above 
the  eye  of  it,  you  will  find  a  transparent  space  formed  by 


VI.    OF    ELEMENTARY   ORGANIC   STRUCTURE.  73 

the  cessation  of  the  barbs  along  a  certain  portion  of  the 
shaft.  On  the  most  scintillant  of  the  rays,  which  have 
green  and  golden  barbs,  and  in  the  lovely  blue  rays  of 
the  breast-plumes,  these  cessations  of  the  barbs  become 
alternate  cuts  or  jags  ;  while  at  the  end  of  the  long  brown 
wing-feathers,  they  comply  with  the  colored  pattern  :  so 
that,  at  the  end  of  the  clouded  plume,  its  pattern,  instead 
of  being  constructed  of  brown  and  white  barbs,  is  con- 
structed of  brown — and  no  barbs, — but  vacant  spaces. 
The  decorative  use  of  this  transparency  consists  in  letting 
the  color  of  one  plume  through  that  of  the  other,  so  that 
not  only  every  possible  artifice  is  employed  to  obtain  the 
most  lovely  play  of  color  on  the  plume  itself  ;  but,  with 
mystery  through  mystery,  the  one  glows  and  flushes 
through  the  other,  like  cloud  seen  through  cloud.  But 
now,  before  we  can  learn  how  either  glow,  or  flush,  or 
bloom  are  to  be  painted,  we  must  learn  our  alphabet  of 
color  itself. 


CHAPTEE  YIL 

OF    THE   TWELVE    ZODIACAL    COLORS. 

1.  Il1  my  introductory  Oxford  lectures  you  will  find  it 
stated  (§  130)  that  "  all  objects  appear  to  the  eye  merely 
as  masses  of  color  ^  and  (§§  134,  175)  that  shadows  are 
as  full  in  color  as  lights  are;  every  possible  shade  being  a 
light  to  the  shades  below  it,  and  every  possible  light,  a 
shade  to  the  lights  above  it,  till  you  come  to  absolute 
darkness   on   one    side,    and    to   the   sun   on   the   other. 
Therefore,  you  are  to  consider  all  the  various  pieces  either 
of  shaded  or  lighted  color,  out  of  which  any  scene  what- 
soever is  composed,   simply  as  the  patches  of  a  Harle- 
quin's jacket —of  which  some  are  black,  some  red,  some 
blue,  some  golden  ;  but  of  which  you  are  to  imitate  every 
one,  by  the  same  methods. 

2.  It  is  of  great  importance  that  you  should  understand 
how  much  this  statement  implies.     In  almost  all  the  re- 
ceived codes  of  art-instruction,  you  will  be  told  that  shad- 
ows should  be  transparent,   and  lights  solid.     You  will 
find  also,  when  you  begin  drawing  yourselves,  that  your 
shadows,  whether  laid  with  lead,  chalk,  or  pencil,  will  for 
the  most  part  really  look  like  dirt  or  blotches  on  the 
paper,  till  you  cross-hatch  or  stipple  them,  so  as  to  give 
them  a  look  of  network  ;  upon  which  they  instantly  be- 
come more  or  less  like  shade  ;  or,  as  it  is  called,  '  trans- 
parent. '     And  you  will  find  a  most  powerful  and  attrac- 


VII.    OF  THE  TWELVE   ZODIACAL  COLORS.  75 

tive  school  of  art  founded  on  the  general  principle  of  lay- 
ing a  literally  transparent  brown  all  over  the  picture,  for 
the  shade  ;  and  striking  the  lights  upon  it  with  opaque 
white. 

3.  Now  the  statement  I  have  just  made  to  you  (in  §  1) 
implies  the  falseness  of  all  such  theories  and  methods.* 
And  I  mean  to  assert  that  falsity  in  the  most  positive 
manner.     Shadows  are  not  more  transparent  than  lights, 
nor  lights  than  shadows  ;  both  are  transparent,  when  they 
express  space  ;  both  are  opaque,  when  they  express  sub- 
stance ;  and  both  are  to  be  imitated  in  precisely  the  same 
manner,   and  with  the  same  quality,   of  pigment.     The 
only  technical  law  which  is  indeed  constant,  and  which 
requires  to  be  observed  with  strictness,  is  precisely  that 
the  method  shall   be  uniform.     You  may  take  a  white 
ground,  and  lay  darks  on  it,  leaving  the  white  for  lights  ; 
or  you  may  take  a  dark  ground,  and  lay  lights  on  it,  leav- 
ing the  dark  for  darks  :  in  either  case  you  must  go  on  as 
you  begin,  and  not  introduce  the  other  method  where  it 
suits  you.     A  glass  painter  must  make  his  whole  picture 
transparent  ;    and   a   fresco   painter,    his   whole    picture 
opaque. 

4.  Get,  then,  this  plain  principle  well  infixed  in  your 
minds.     Here  is  a  crocus — there  is  the  sun — here  a  piece 
of  coal — there,  the  hollow  of  the  coal-scuttle  it  came  out 
of.     They  are  every  one  but  patches  of  color, — some  yel- 
low, some  black  ;  and  must  be  painted  in  the  same  man- 
ner, with  whatever  yellow  or  black  paint  is  handy. 

5.  Suppose  it,  however,  admitted  that  lights  and  shades 

*  Essentially,  the  use  of  transparent  brown  by  Rubens,  (followed  by 
Sir  Joshua  with  asphaltum,)  ruined  the  Netherland  schools  of  color, 
and  has  rendered  a  school  of  color  in  England  hitherto  impossible. 


76 


THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 


are  to  be  produced  in  the  same  manner  ;  we  have  farther 
to  ask,  what  that  manner  may  best  be  ? 

You  will  continually  hear  artists  disputing  about 
grounds,  glazings,  vehicles,  varnishes,  transparencies, 
opacities,  oleaginousnesses.  All  that  talk  is  as  idle  as  the 
east  wind.  Get  a  flat  surface  that  won't  crack, — some 
colored  substance  that  will  stick  upon  it,  and  remain 
always  of  the  color  it  was  when  you  put  it  on, — and  a 
pig's  bristle  or  two,  wedged  in  a  stick  ;  and  if  you  can't 
paint,  you  are  no  painter  ;  and  had  better  not  talk  about 
the  art. 

The  one  thing  you  have  to  learn — the  one  power  truly 
called  that  of  '  painting  ' — is  to  lay  on  any  colored  sub- 
stance, whatever  its  consistence  may  be,  (from  mortar  to 
ether,)  at  once,  of  the  exact  tint  you  want,  in  the  exact 
form  you  wrant,  and  in  the  exact  quantity  you  want. 
That  is  painting. 

6.  Now,  you  are  well  aware  that  to  play  on  the  violin 
well,  requires  some  practice.  Painting  is  playing  on  a 
color-violin,  seventy-times-seven  stringed,  and  inventing 
your  tune  as  you  play  it  !  That  is  the  easy,  simple, 
straightforward  business  you  have  to  learn.  Here  is  your 
catgut  and  your  mahogany, — better  or  worse  quality  of 
both  of  course  there  may  be, — Cremona  tone,  and  so  on, 
to  be  discussed  with  due  care,  in  due  time  ; — you  cannot 
paint  miniature  on  the  sail  of  a  fishing-boat,  nor  do  the  fine 
work  with  hog's  bristles  that  you  can  with  camel's  hair  :— 
all  these  catgut  and  bristle  questions  shall  have  their 
place  ;  but,  the  primary  question  of  all  is — can  you 
play  f 

1.  Perfectly,  you  never  can,  but  by  birth-gift.  The 
entirely  first-rate  musicians  and  painters  are  born,  like 


VII.   OF   THE   TWELVE    ZODIACAL   COLORS.  77 

Mercury  ; — their  words  are  music,  and  their  touch  is 
gold  ;  sound  and  color  wait  on  them  from  their  youth  ; 
and  no  practice  will  ever  enable  other  human  creatures  to 
do  any  thing  like  them.  The  most  favorable  conditions, 
the  most  docile  and  apt  temper,  and  the  unwearied  prac- 
tice of  life,  will  never  enable  any  painter  of  merely  aver- 
age human  capacity  to  lay  a  single  touch  like  Gains- 
borough, Yelasquez,  Tintoret,  or  Luini.  But  to  under- 
stand that  the  matter  must  still  depend  on  practice  as 
well  as  on  genius, — that  painting  is  not  one  whit  less,  but 
more,  difficult  than  playing  on  an  instrument, — and  that 
your  care  as  a  student,  on  the  whole,  is  not  to  be  given  to 
the  quality  of  your  piano,  but  of  your  touch, — this  is 
the  great  fact  which  I  have  to  teach  you  respecting 
color  ;  this  is  the  root  of  all  excellent  doing  and  perceiv- 
ing. 

And  you  will  be  utterly  amazed,  when  once  you  begin 
to  feel  what  color  means,  to  find  how  many  qualities 
which  appear  to  result  from  peculiar  method  and  material 
do  indeed  depend  only  on  loveliness  of  execution  ;  and 
how  divine  the  law  of  nature  is,  which  has  so  connected 
the  immortality  of  beauty  with  patience  of  industry,  that 
by  precision  and  rightness  of  laborious  art  you  may  at  last 
literally  command  the  rainbow  to  stay,  and  forbid  the  sun 
to  set. 

8.  To-day,  then,  you  are  to  begin  to  learn  your  notes — 
to  hammer  out,  steadily,  your  first  five-finger  exercises  ; 
and  as  in  music  you  have  first  to  play  in  true  time,  with 
stubborn  firmness,  so  in  color  the  first  thing  you  have  to 
learn  is  to  lay  it  flat,  and  well  within  limits.  You  shall 
have  it  first  within  linear  limits  of  extreme  simplicity, 
and  you  must  be  content  to  fill  spaces  so  enclosed,  again 


78  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

and  again  and  again,  till  you  are  perfectly  sure  of  your 
skill  up  to  that  elementary  point. 

9.  So  far,  then,  of  the  manner  in  which  you  are  to  lay 
your  color  ; — next  comes  the  more  debatable  question  yet, 
what  kind  of  color  you  are  thus  to  lay, — sober,  or  bright. 
For  you  are  likely  often  to  have  heard  it  said  that  people 
of  taste  like  subdued  or  dull  colors,  and  that  only  vulgar 
persons  like  bright  ones. 

But  I  believe  you  will  find  the  standard  of  color  I  am 
going  to  give  you,  an  extremely  safe  one — the  morning 
sky.  Love  that  rightly  with  all  your  heart,  and  soul,  and 
eyes  ;  and  you  are  established  in  foundation-laws  of  color. 
The  white,  blue,  purple,  gold,  scarlet,  and  ruby  of  morn- 
ing clouds,  are  meant  to  be  entirely  delightful  to  the 
human  creatures  whom  the  '  clouds  and  light '  sustain. 
Be  sure  you  are  always  ready  to  see  them,  the  moment 
they  are  painted  by  God  for  you. 

But  you  must  not  rest  in  these.  It  is  possible  to  love 
them  intensely,  and  yet  to  have  no  understanding  of  the 
modesty  or  tenderness  of  color. 

Therefore,  next  to  the  crystalline  firmament  over  you, 
the  crystalline  earth  beneath  your  feet  is  to  be  your 
standard. 

Flint,  reduced  to  a  natural  glass  containing  about  ten 
per  cent  of  water,  forms  the  opal  ;  which  gives  every 
lower  hue  of  the  prism  in  as  true  perfection  as  the  clouds  ; 
but  not  the  scarlet  or  gold,  both  which  are  crude  and  vul- 
gar in  opal.  Its  perfect  hues  are  the  green,  blue,  and  pur- 
ple. Emerald  and  lapis-lazuli  give  central  green  and  blue 
in  fulness  ;  and  the  natural  hues  of  all  true  gems,  and  of 
the  marbles,  jaspers,  and  chalcedonies,  are  types  of  inter- 
mediate tint  :  the  oxides  of  iron,  especially,  of  reds.  All 


VII.   OF  THE  TWELVE   ZODIACAL   COLORS.  79 

these  earth-colors  are  curiously  prepared  for  right  stand- 
ards :  there  is  no  misleading  in  them. 

10.  Not  so  when  we  come  to  the  colors  of  flowers  and 
animals.     Some  of  these  are  entirely  pure  and  heavenly  ; 
the  dove  can  contend  with  the  opal,  the  rose  with  the 
clouds,  and  the  gentian  with  the  sky  ;  but  many  animals 
and  flowers  are  stained  with  vulgar,  vicious,  or  discordant 
colors.     But  all  those  intended  for  the  service  and  compan- 
ionship of  man  are  typically  fair  in  color  ;  and  therefore 
especially  the  fruits  and  flowers  of  temperate  climates  ; — 
the  purple  of  the  grape  and  plum  ;  the  red  of  the  currant 
and  strawberry,  and  of  the  expressed  juices  of  these, — the 
wine  that  "  giveth  his  color  in  the  cup,"  and  the  "  lucent 
syrup  tinct  with  cinnamon. "     With  these,  in  various  sub- 
ordination, are  associated  the  infinitudes  of  quiet  and  har- 
monized color  on  which  the  eye  is  intended  to  repose  ; 
the  softer  duns  and  browns  of  birds  and  animals,  made 
quaint  by  figured  patterns  ;  and  the  tender  green  and  gray 
of  vegetation  and  rock. 

11.  ~No  science,  but  only  innocence,  gayety  of  heart, 
and  ordinary  health  and  common  sense,   are  needed,  to 
enable  us  to  enjoy  all  these  natural  colors  rightly.     But 
the  more  grave  hues,  which,  in  the  system  of  nature,  are 
associated  with  danger  or  death,  have  become,  during  the 
later  practice  of  art,  pleasing  in  a  mysterious  way  to  the 
most  accomplished  artists  :  so  that  the  greatest  masters  of 
the  sixteenth  century  may  be  recognized  chiefly  by  their 
power  of  producing  beauty  with  subdued  colors.     I  can- 
not enter  here  into  the  most  subtle  and  vital  question  of 
the  difference  between  the  subdued  colors  of  Velasquez  or 
Tiiitoret,  and  the  daubed  gray  and  black  of  the  modern 


80  THE   LAWS  OF   FESOLE. 

French  school  ;*  still  less  into  any  analysis  of  the  grotesque 
inconsistency  which  makes  the  foreign  modern  schools, 
generally,  repaint  all  sober  and  tender  pictures  with  glar- 
ing colors,  and  yet  reduce  the  pure  colors  of  landscape  to 

*  One  great  cause  of  the  delay  which  has  taken  place  in  the  publi- 
cation of  this  book  has  been  my  doubt  of  the  proper  time  and  degree 
in  which  study  in  subdued  color  shoulo!  be  undertaken.  For  though, 
on  the  one  hand,  the  entirely  barbarous  glare  of  modern  colored  illus- 
tration would  induce  me  to  order  practice  in  subdued  color  merely  for 
antidote  to  it ;  on  the  other,  the  affectation, — or  morbid  reality, — of 
delight  in  subdued  color,  are  among  the  fatallest  errors  of  semi-artists. 
The  attacks  on  Turner  in  his  greatest  time  were  grounded  in  real  feel- 
ing, on  the  part  of  his  adversaries,  of  the  solemnity  in  the  subdued 
tones  of  the  schools  of  classic  landscape. 

To  a  certain  extent,  therefore,  the  manner  of  study  in  color  required 
of  any  student  must  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  master,  who  alone 
can  determine  what  qualities  of  color  the  pupil  is  least  sensible  to  ;  and 
set  before  him  examples  of  brightness,  if  he  has  become  affectedly 
grave, — and  of  subdued  harmony,  if  he  errs  by  crudeness  and  discord. 
But  the  general  law  must  be  to  practise  first  in  pure  color,  and  then, 
as  our  sense  of  what  is  grave  and  noble  in  life  and  conduct  increases, 
to  express  what  feeling  we  have  of  such  things  in  the  hues  belonging 
to  them,  remembering,  however,  always,  that  the  instinct  for  grave 
color  is  not  at  all  an  index  of  a  grave  mind.  I  have  had  curious  proof 
of  this  in  my  own  experience.  When  I  was  an  entirely  frivolous  and 
giddy  boy,  I  was  fondest  of  what  seemed  to  me  '  sublime  '  in  gloomy 
art,  just  in  proportion  as  I  was  insensible  to  crudeness  and  glare  in  the 
bright  colors  which  I  enjoyed  for  their  own  sake  :  and  the  first  old 
picture  I  ever  tried  to  copy  was  the  small  Rembrandt  in  the  Louvre, 
of  the  Supper  at  Emmaus.  But  now,  when  my  inner  mind  is  as  sad  as 
it  is  well  possible  for  any  man's  to  be,  and  my  thoughts  are  for  the  most 
part  occupied  in  very  earnest  manner,  and  with  very  grave  subjects, 
my  ideal  of  color  is  that  which  I  now  assign  for  the  standard  of  St. 
George's  schools, — the  color  of  sunrise,  and  of  Angelico. 

Why  not,  then,  of  the  rainbow,  simply  ? 

Practically,  I  must  use  those  of  the  rainbow  to  begin  with.  But,  for 
standards,  I  give  the  sunrise  and  Angelico,  because  the  sun  and  he 
both  use  gold  for  yellow.  Which  is  indeed  an  infinite  gain  ;  if  poor 


VII.    OF   THE   TWELVE   ZODIACAL   COLOKS.  81 

drab  and  brown.  In  order  to  explain  any  of  these  phe- 
nomena, I  should  have  first  to  dwell  on  the  moral  sense 
which  has  induced  us,  in  ordinary  language,  to  use  the 
metaphor  of  '  chastity  '  for  the  virtue  of  beautifully  sub- 
dued color  ;  and  then  to  explain  how  the  chastity  of  Brit- 
omart  or  Perdita  differs  from  the  vileness  of  souls  that 
despise  love.  But  no  subtle  inquiries  or  demonstrations 
can  be  admitted  in  writing  primal  laws  ;  nor  will  they 
ever  be  needed,  by  those  who  obey  them.  The  things 
which  are  naturally  pleasant  to  innocence  and  youth,  will 
be  forever  pleasant  to  us,  both  in.  this  life  and  in  that 
which  is  to  come  ;  and  the  same  law  which  makes  the 
babe  delight  in  its  coral,  and  the  girl  in  the  carnelian 
pebble  she  gathers  from  the  wet  and  shining  beach,  will 
still  rule  their  joy  within  the  walls  whose  light  shall  be 
"  like  a  stone  most  precious,  even  like  a  jasper  stone, 
clear  as  crystal. ' ' 

12.  These  things,  then,  above  named,  without  any  de- 
bate, are  to  be  received  by  you  as  standards  of  color  :  by 
admiration  of  which  you  may  irrefragably  test  the  right- 
ness  of  your  sense,  and  by  imitation  *  of  which  you  can 
form  and  order  all  the  principles  of  your  practice.  The 
morning  sky,  primarily,  I  repeat  ;  and  that  from  the 

Turner  bad  only  been  able  to  use  gold  for  yellow  too,  we  had  never 
heard  any  vulgar  jests'  about  him.  But,  in  cloud-painting,  nobody  can 
use  gold  except  the  sun  himself, — while,  on  angel's  wings,  it  can  but 
barely  be  managed,  if  you  have  old  Etruscan  blood  in  your  fingers, — 
not  here,  by  English  ones,  cramped  in  their  clutch  of  Indian  or  Cali- 
fornian  gold. 

'  Imitation  ' — I  use  the  word  advisedly.  The  last  and  best  lesson 
I  ever  had  in  color  was  a  vain  endeavor  to  estimate  the  time  which 
Angelico  must  have  taken  to  paint  a  small  amethyst  on  the  breast  of 
his  St.  Laurence. 


82  THE  LAWS  OF  FESOLE. 

dawn  onwards.  There  are  no  grays  nor  violets  which  can 
come  near  the  perf  ectiiess  of  a  pure  dawn  ;  no  gradations 
of  other  shade  can  be  compared  with  the  tenderness  of  its 
transitions.  Dawn,  with  the  waning  inoon,  (it  is  always 
best  so,  because  the  keen  gleam  of  the  thin  crescent  shows 
the  full  depth  of  the  relative  gray,)  determines  for  you  all 
that  is  lovely  in  subdued  hue  and  subdued  light.  Then 
the  passages  into  sunrise  determine  for  you  all  that  is  best 
in  the  utmost  glory  of  color.  Next  to  these,  having  con- 
stant office  in  the  pleasures  of  the  day,  come  the  colors  of 
the  earth,  and  her  fruits  and  flowers  ;  the  iron  ochres  be- 
ing the  standards  of  homely  and  comfortable  red,  always 
ruling  the  pictures  of  the  greatest  masters  at  Yenice,  as 
opposed  to  the  vulgar  vermilion  of  the  Dutch  ;  hence 
they  have  taken  the  general  name  of  Venetian  red  :  then, 
gold  itself,  for  standard  of  lustrous  yellow,  tempered  so 
wisely  with  gray  in  the  shades  ;  silver,  of  lustrous  white, 
tempered  in  like  manner  ;  marble  and  snow,  of  white 
pure,  glowing  into  various  amber  and  rose  under  sun- 
light :  then  the  useful  blossoms  and  fruits  ; — peach  and 
almond  blossom,  with  the  wild  rose,  of  the  paler  reds  ; 
the  Clarissas,  of  full  reds,  etc.  ;  and  the  fruits,  of  such  hues 
modified  by  texture  or  bloom.  Once  learn  to  paint  a 
peach,  an  apricot,  and  a  greengage,  and  you  have  nothing 
more  to  know  in  the  modes  of  color  enhanced  by  texture. 
Corn  is  the  standard  of  brown, — moss  of  green  ;  and  in 
general,  whatever  is  good  for  human  life  is  also  made 
beautiful  to  human  sight,  not  by  "  association  of  ideas," 
but  by  appointment  of  God  that  in  the  bread  we  rightly 
break  for  our  lips,  we  shall  best  see  the  power  and  grace 
of  the  Light  he  gave  for  our  eyes. 

13.   The  perfect  order  of  the  colors  in  this  gentle  glory 


VII.    OF  THE   TWELVE  ZODIACAL   COLORS.  83 

is,  of  course,  normal  in  the  rainbow, — namely,  counting 
from  outside  to  inside,  red,  yellow,  and  blue,  with  their 
combinations,* — namely,  scarlet,  formed  by  yellow  with 
red  ;  green,  formed  by  blue  with  yellow  ;  and  purple, 
formed  by  red  with  blue. 

14.  But  neither  in  rainbow,  prism,  nor  opal,  are  any  of 
these  tints  seen  in  separation.  They  pass  into  each  other 
by  imperceptible  gradation,  nor  can  any  entirely  beautiful 
color  exist  without  this  quality.  Between  each  second- 
ary, therefore,  and  the  primaries  of  which  it  is  composed, 
there  are  an  infinite  series  of  tints  ;  inclining  on  one  side 
to  one  primary,  on  the  other  to  the  other  ;  thus  green 
passes  into  blue  through  a  series  of  bluish  greens,  which 
are  of  great  importance  in  the  painting  of  sea  and  sky  ; — 
and  it  passes  into  yellow  through  a  series  of  golden 
greens,  which  are  of  no  less  importance  in  painting  earth 
and  flowers.  Now  it  is  very  tiresome  to  have  to  mix 
names  as  well  as  colors,  and  always  say  '  bluish  green,'  or 
'  reddish  purple,'  instead  of  having  proper  special  names 
for  these  intermediate  tints.  Practically  we  have  such 
names  for  several  of  them  ;  '  orange,'  for  instance,  is  the 
intermediate  between  scarlet  and  yellow  ;  '  lilac  '  one  of 
the  paler  tints  between  purple  and  red  ;  and  i  violet '  that 
between  purple  and  blue.  But  we  .must  now  have  our 
code  of  names  comj3lete  ;  and  that  we  may  manage 
this  more  easily,  we  will  put  the  colors  first  in  their 
places. 

*  Strictly  speaking,  the  rainbow  is  all  combination  ;  the  primary 
colors  being  only  lines  of  transition,  and  the  bauds  consisting  of  scar- 
let, green,  and  purple  ;  the  scarlet  being  not  an  especially  pure  or  agree- 
able one  in  its  general  resultant  hue  on  cloud-gray.  The  green  and 
violet  are  very  lovely  when  seen  over  white  cloud. 


84  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

15.  Take  your  sixpence  again  ;  and,  with  that  simple 
mathematical  instrument,  draw  twelve  circles  of  its  size, 
or  at  least  as  closely  by  its  edge  as  you  can,*  on  a  piece 
of  Bristol  board,  so  that  you  may  be  able  to  cut  them  out, 
and  place  them  variously.     Then  take  carmine,  cobalt, 
gamboge,   orange  vermilion,   and   emerald   green  ;    and, 
marking  the  circles  with  the  twelve  first  letters  of  the 
alphabet,  color  '  a  '  with  pure  gamboge,  4  b '  with  mixed 
gamboge  and  emerald  green,    t  c '   with  emerald  green, 
4  d '  with  emerald  green  and  cobalt,  '  c '  with  cobalt  pure, 
'/*'  with  two-thirds  cobalt   and  one  third  carmine,   'gy 
with  equally  mixed  cobalt  and  carmine,  '  h  '  with   two- 
thirds  carmine  and  one-third  cobalt,  i  i  '   with  carmine 
pure,  '  j  '  with  carmine  and  vermilion,  '  k  '  with  vermil- 
ion, '  I '  with  vermilion  and  gamboge. 

16.  But  how  is  all  this  to  be  done  smoothly  and  rightly, 
and  how  are  the  thirds  to  be  measured  ?  f     Well, — for  thfe 

*  It  is  really  in  practice  better  to  do  this  than  to  take  compasses, 
which  are  nearly  sure  to  slip  or  get  pinched  closer,  in  a  beginner's 
hands,  before  the  twelve  circles  are  all  done.  But  if  you  like  to  do  it 
accurately,  see  Fig.  17,  p.  89. 

f  I  have  vainly  endeavored  to  persuade  Messrs.  Wiusor  and  Newton 
to  prepare  for  me  powder-colors,  of  which  I  could  direct  half  or  a 
quarter  grain  to  be  mixed  with  a  measured  quantity  of  water  ;  but  I 
have  not  given  up  the  notion.  In  the  meantime,  the  firm  have  ar- 
ranged at  my  request  a  beginner's  box  of  drawing  materials, — namely, 
colors,  brushes,  ruler,  and  compasses  fitted  with  pencil-point.  (As  this 
note  may  be  read  by  many  persons,  hurriedly,  who  have  not  had  time 
to  look  at  the  first  number,  I  allow  once  more,  but  for  the  last  time  in 
this  book,  the  vulgar  use  of  the  words  '  pencil '  and  '  brush.')  The 
working  pencil  and  penknife  should  be  always  in  the  pocket,  with  a 
small  sketch-book,  which  a  student  of  drawing  should  consider  just  as 
necessary  a  part  of  his  daily  equipment  as  his  watch  or  purse.  Then 
the  color-box,  thus  composed,  gives  him  all  he  wants  more.  For  the 
advanced  student,  I  add  the  palette,  with  all  needful  mathematical  in- 


VII.    OF   THE   TWELVE   ZODIACAL   COLORS.  85 

doing  of  it,  I  must  assume,  that  in  the  present  artistic  and 
communicative  phase  of  society,  the  pupil  can,  at  some 
chance  opportunity,  see  the  ordinary  process  of  washing 
with  water-color  ;  or  that  the  child  in  more  happy  cir- 
cumstances may  be  allowed  so  to  play  with  '  paints  '  from 
its  earliest  years,  as  to  be  under  no  particular  difficulty  in 
producing  a  uniform  stain  on  a  piece  of  pasteboard.  The 
quantity  of  pigment  to  be  used  cannot  be  yet  defined  ;— 
the  publication  of  these  opening  numbers  of  Fesole  has 
already  been  so  long  delayed  that  I  want  now  to  place 
them  in  the  student's  hand,  with  what  easily  explicable 
details  I  can  give,  as  soon  as  possible  ;  and  the  plates 
requiring  care  in  coloring  by  hand,  which  will  finally  be 
given  as  examples,  are  deferred  until  I  can  give  my  read- 
ers some  general  idea  of  the  system  to  be  adopted.  But, 
for  present  need,  I  can  explain  all  that  is  wanted  without 
the  help  of  plates,  by  reference  to  flower-tints  ;  not  that 
the  student  is  to  be  vexed  by  any  comparisons  of  his  work 
with  these,  either  in  respect  of  brilliancy  or  texture  :  if  he 
can  bring  his  sixpenny  circles  to  an  approximate  resem- 
blance of  as  many  old-fashioned  wafers,  it  is  all  that  is 
required  of  him.  He  will  not  be  able  to  do  this  with 
one  coat  of  color  ;  and  had  better  allow  himself  three  or 
four  than  permit  the  tints  to  be  uneven. 

17.  The  first  tint,  pure  gamboge,  should  be  brought,  as 
near  as  may  be,  up  to  that  of  the  yellow  daffodil,  — the 
buttercup  is  a  little  too  deep.  In  fine  illumination,  and 
in  the  best  decorative  fresco  painting,  this  color  is  almost 


slrumenls  and  useful  colors.  I  give  1dm  colors,  of  finest  quality, — be- 
ing content,  for  beginners,  with  what  I  find  one  of  the  best  practical 
colorists  in  England,  my  very  dear  friend  Professor  We stwood,  has 
found  serviceable  all  his  life,-  -children's  colors. 


86  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

exclusively  represented  by  gold,  and  the  student  is  to  give 
it,  habitually,  its  heraldic  name  of  '  Or. ' 

The  second  tint,  golden-green,  which  is  continually 
seen  in  the  most  beautiful  skies  of  twilight,  and  in  sun- 
lighted  trees  and  grass,  is  yet  unrepresented  by  any  flower 
in  its  fulness  ;  but  an  extremely  pale  hue  of  it,  in  the 
primrose,  forms  the  most  exquisite  opposition,  in  spring, 
to  the  blue  of  the  wood-hyacinth  ;  and  we  will  therefore 
keep  the  name,  '  Primrose,'  for  the  hue  itself. 

The  third  tint,  pure  green,  is,  in  heraldry,  'verd,'  on 
the  shields  of  commoners,  and  '  Emerald  '  on  those  of  no- 
bles. We  will  take  for  St.  George's  schools  the  higher 
nomenclature,  which  is  also  the  most  intelligible  and  con- 
venient ;  and  as  we  complete  our  color  zodiac,  we  shall 
thus  have  the  primary  and  secondary  colors  named  from 
gems,  and  the  tertiary  from  flowers. 

18.  The  next  following  color,  however,  the  tertiary  be- 
tween green  and  blue,  is  again  not  represented  distinctly 
by  any  flower  ;  but  the  blue  of  the  Gentiana  Yerna  is  so 
associated  with  the  pure  green  of  Alpine  pasture,  and  the 
color  of  Alpine  lakes,  which  is  precisely  the  hue  we  now 
want  a  name  for,  that  I  will  call  this  beautiful  tertiary 
'  Lucia  ;  '  (that  being  the  name  given  in  Proserpina  to 
the  entire  tribe  of  the  gentians,)  and  especially  true  to  our 
general  conception  of   luminous   power   or   transparency 
in   this   color,   which   the  Greeks   gave   to   the   eyes   of 
Athena. 

19.  The  fifth  color,  the  primary  blue,  heraldic  *  azure,' 
or  '  sapphire,'  we  shall  always  call  '  Sapphire  ;  •   though, 
in  truth,  the  sapphire  itself  never  readies  any  thing  like 
the  intensity  of  this  color,  as  used  by  the  Venetian  paint- 
ers, who  took  for  its  representative  pure  ultramarine.    But 


VII.    OF   THE   TWELVE   ZODIACAL   COLORS.  87 

it  is  only  seen  in  perfect  beauty  in  some  gradations  of  the 
blue  glass  of  the  twelfth  century.  For  ordinary  purposes, 
cobalt  represents  it  with  sufficient  accuracy. 

20.  The  sixth  color,  the  tertiary  between  sapphire  and 
purple,  is  exactly  the  hue  of  the  Greek  sea,  and  of  the 
small    Greek    iris,    Homer's    ZOK?    commonly    translated 
'  violet. '  We  will  call  it  i  Yiolet  ;  '  our  own  flower  of  that 
name  being  more  or  less  of  the  same  hue,  though  *paler. 
I  do  not  know  what  the   {  syrup  of  violets  '  was,  with 
which  Ilumboldt  stained  his  test-paper,  ('  Personal  Narra- 
tive,' i.,  p.  165,)  but  I  am  under  the  impression  that  an 
extract  of  violets  may  be  obtained  which  will  represent 
this  color  beautifully  and  permanently.     Smalt  is  one  of 
its  approximate  hues. 

21.  The  seventh    color,  the  secondary   purple,  is  the 
deepest  of  all  the  pure  colors  ;  it  is  the  heraldic  '  pur- 
pure/    and   'jacinth;5    by  us  always  to  be  called  'Ja- 
cinth. '     It  is  best  given  by  the  dark  pansy  ;  see  the  notes 
on    that   flower   in   the   seventh  number  of   Proserpina, 
which  will  I  hope  soon  be  extant. 

22.  The  eighth  color,  the  tertiary  between  purple  and 
j-ed,  corresponds  accurately  to  the  general  hue  and  tone  of 

bell-heather,  and  will  be  called  by  us  therefore  '  Heath. ' 
In  various  depths  and  modifications,  of  which  the  original 
tint  cannot  be  known  with  exactness,  it  forms  the  purple 
ground  of  the  most  stately  missals  between  the  seventh 
and  twelfth  century,  such  as  the  Psalter  of  Boulogne.  It 
was  always,  however,  in  these  books,  I  doubt  not,  a  true 
heath-purple,  not  a  violet. 

23.  The  ninth  color,  the  primary  red,  heraldic  '  gules  ' 
and  '  ruby, '  will  be  called  by  us  always  i  Ruby. '     It  is 
not  represented  accurately  by  any  stable  pigment  ;  but 


88 


THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 


crimson  lake,  or,  better,  carmine,  may  be  used  for  it  in 
exercises  ;  and  rose  madder  in  real  painting. 

24.  The  tenth  color,  the  tertiary  between  red  and  scar- 
let, corresponds  to  the  most  beautiful  dyes  of  the  carna- 
tion, and  other  deeper-stained  varieties  of  the  great  tribe  of 
the  pinks.     The  mountain  pink,  indeed,  from  which  they 
all  are  in  justice  named-,  is  of  an  exquisitely  rich,  though 
pale,  Tuby  :    but  the  intense   glow  of   the  flower  leans 
towards  fiery  scarlet  in  its  crimson  ;  and  I  shall  therefore 
call  this  tertiary,  '  Clarissa,'  the  name  of  the  pink  tribe  in 
Proserpina. 

25.  The  eleventh  color,  the  secondary  scarlet,  heraldic 
6  tenny  '  and   '  jasper, '  is  accurately  represented  by  the 
aluminous  silicas,  colored  scarlet  by  iron,  and  will  be  by 
us  always  called  '  Jasper. ' 

26.  The  twelfth  color,  the  tertiary  between  scarlet  and 
gold,  is  most  beautifully  represented  by  the  golden  cro- 
cus,— being  the  color  of  the  peplus  of  Athena.     We  shall 
call  it   *  Crocus  ; '  thus  naming  the  group  of  the  most 
luminous  colors  from  the   two  chief   families  of  spring 
flowers,  with  gold  (for  the  sun)  between  them. 

This,  being  the  brightest,  had  better  be  placed  upper- 
most in  our  circle,  and  then,  taking  the  rest  in  the  order 
I  have  named  them,  we  shall  have  our  complete  zodiac 
thus  arranged.  (Fig.  17.*) 

*  If  you  choose  to  construct  this  figure  accurately,  draw  first  the 
circle  x  y,  of  the  size  of  a  sixpence,  and  from  its  diameter  x  y,  take 
the  angles  max,  nay,  each  =  the  sixth  of  the  quadrant,  or  fifteen  de- 
grees. Draw  the  lines  a  b,  a  1,  each  equal  to  x  y  :  and  1  and  b  are 
the  centres  of  the  next  circles.  Then  the  perpendiculars  from  m  and 
n  will  cut  the  perpendicular  from  a  in  the  centre  of  the  large  circle. 
And  if  you  get  it  all  to  come  right,  I  wish  you  joy  of  it. 


VII.   OF  THE   TWELVE   ZODIACAL  COLORS. 


89 


27.  However  rudely  the  young  student  may  have  colored 
his  pieces  of  cardboard,  when  he  has  placed  them  in  con- 
tact with  each  other  in  this  circular  order,  he  will  at  once 
see  that  they  form  a  luminous  gradation,  in  which  the  up- 


permost, Or,  is  the  lightest,  and  the  lowest,  Jacinth,  the 
darkest  hue. 

Every  one  of  the  twelve  zodiacal  colors  has  thus  a  pitch  of 
intensity  at  which  its  special  hue  becomes  clearly  manifest, 
and  above  which,  or  below  which,  it  is  not  clearly  recog- 


90  THE   LAWS   OF  FESOLE. 

nized,  and  may,  even  in  ordinary  language,  be  often 
spoken  of  as  another  color.  Crimson,  for  instance,  and 
pink,  are  only  tlie  dark  and  light  powers  of  the  central 
Clarissa,  and  4  rose  '  the  pale  power  of  the  central  Ruby. 
A  pale  jacinth  is  scarcely  ever,  in  ordinary  terms,  called 
purple,  but  '  lilac. ' 

28.  Nevertheless,  in  strictness,  each  color  is  to  be  held 
as  extending  in  unbroken  gradation  from  white  to  black, 
through   a   series   of    tints,   in   some   cases  recognizable 
throughout   for  the  same   color  ;  but  in  all  the  darker 
tones  of  Jasper,  Crocus  and  Or,  becoming  what  we  call 
4  brown  ;  *  and  in  the  darker  tints  of  Lucia  and  Primrose 
passing  into  greens,    to  which  artists  have  long  given 
special  titles  of  '  Sap,'  '  Olive,'  '  Prussian,-  and  the  like. 

29.  After  we  have  studied  the  modifications  of  shade 
itself,  in  neutral  gray,  we  will  take  up  the.  gradated  scales 
of  each   color  ;    dividing  them   always  into  a   hundred 
degrees,  between  white  and  black  ;  of  which  the  typical 
or  representative  hue  will  be,  in  every  one  of  the  zodiacal 
colors,  at  a  different  height  in  the  scale — the  representa- 
tive power  of  Or  being  approximately  20  ;  of  Jasper,  30  ; 
of  Ruby,  50  ;  ancl  of  Jacinth,  TO.     But,  for  the  present, 
we  must  be  content  with  much  less  precise  ideas  of  hue  ; 
and  begin  our  practice  with  little  more  than  the  hope  of 
arriving  at  some  effective  skill  in  producing  the  tints  we 
want,  and  securing  some  general  conclusions  about  their 
effects  in    companionship  with,    or  opposition  to,   each 
other  ;  the  principal  use  of  their  zodiacal  arrangement, 
above  given,  being  that  each  color  is  placed  over  against 
its  proper  opponent  ; — Jacinth  being  the  hue  which  most 
perfectly  relieves  Or,  and  Primrose  the  most  lovely  oppo- 
nent to  Heath.     The  stamens  and  petals  of  the  sweet-wil- 


VII.   OF  THE  TWELVE   ZODIACAL   COLORS.  91 

liam  present  the  loveliest  possible  type  of  the  opposition 
of  a  subtle  and  subdued  Lucia  to  dark  Clarissa.  In  cen- 
tral spring  on  the  higher  Alps,  the  pansy,  (or,  where  it  is 
wanting,  the  purple  ophryds,)  with  the  bell  gentian,  and 
pale  yellow  furred  anemone,  complete  the  entire  chord 
from  Or  to  Jacinth  in  embroideries  as  rich  as  those  of  an 
Eastern  piece  of  precious  needlework  on  green  silk.* 
The  chord  used  in  the  best  examples  of  glass  and  illumi- 
nation is  Jasper,  Jacinth,  and  Sapphire,  on  ground  of  Or  : 
being  the  scarlet,  purple,  and  blue  of  the  Jewish  Taberna- 
cle, with  its  clasps  and  furniture  of  gold. 

30.  The  best   Rubrics   of   ecclesiastical   literature   are 
founded  on  the  opposition  of  Jasper  to  Sapphire,  which 
was  the  principal  one  in  the  minds  of  the  illuminators  of 
the  thirteenth  century.     I  do  not  know  if  this  choice  was 
instinctive,  or  scientific  ;  many  far  more  beautiful  might 
have  been  adopted  ;    and  I  continually,  and  extremely, 
regret  the  stern  limitation  of  the  lovely  penmanship  of 
all  minor  lettering,  for  at  least  a  hundred  years  through 
the  whole  of  literary  Europe,  to  these  two  alternating 
colors.     But  the  fact  is  that  these  do  quite  centrally  and 
accurately  express  the  main  opposition  of  what  artists  call, 
and  most  people  feel  to  be  truly  called,  warm  colors  as 
opposed  to  cold  ;  pure  blue  being  the  coldest,  and  pure 
scarlet  the  warmest,  of  abstract  hues. 

31.  Into  the  mystery  of  Heat,  however,  as  affecting 
color-sensation,  I  must  not  permit  myself  yet  to  enter, 
though  I  believe  the  student  of  illumination  will  be  ena- 
bled at  once,  by  the  system  given  in  this  chapter,  to  bring 
his  work  under  more  consistent  and  helpful  law  than  he 
has  hitherto  found  written  for  his  use.     My  students  of 

*  Couf.  Lane's  Arabian  Nights,  vol.  i.,  p.  480,  and  vol.  ii  ,  p.  395. 


92  THE   LAWS  OF  FESOLE. 

drawing  will  find  the  subject  carried  on  as  far  as  they 
need  follow,  in  tracing  the  symbolic  meanings  of  the  col- 
ors, from  the  28th  to  the  40th  paragraph  of  the  seventh 
chapter  of  '  Deucalion  ;  '  (compare  also  i  Eagle's  Nest,' 
p.  216  ;)  and,  without  requiring,  in  practice,  the  adoption 
of  any  nomenclature  merely  fanciful,  it  may  yet  be  found 
useful,  as  an  aid  to  memory  for  young  people,  to  associate 
in  their  minds  the  order  of  the  zodiacal  colors  with  that  of 
the  zodiacal  signs.  Taking  Jacinth  for  Aries,  Or  will 
very  fitly  be  the  color  of  Libra,  and  blue  of  Aquarius  ; 
other  associations,  by  a  little  graceful  and  careful  thought, 
may  be  easily  instituted  between  each  color  and  its  con- 
stellation ;  and  the  motion  of  the  Source  of  Light  through 
the  heavens,  registered  to  the  imagination  by  the  beauti- 
ful chord  of  his  own  divided  rays. 


CHAPTER  YIIL 

OF   THE    RELATION    OF    COLOR   TO    OUTLINE. 

1.  MY  dear  reader, — If  you  have  been  obedient,  and 
have  hitherto  done  all  that  I  have  told  you,  I  trust  it  has 
not  been  without  much  subdued  remonstrance,  and  some 
serious  vexation.  For  I  should  be  sorry  if,  when  you 
were  led  by  the  course  of  your  study  to  observe  closely 
such  things  as  are  beautiful  in  color,  (feathers,  and  the 
like,  not  to  say  rocks  and  clouds,*)  you  had  not  long  to 
paint  them,  and  felt  considerable  difficulty  in  complying 
with  your  restriction  to  the  use  of  black,  or  blue,  or  gray. 
You  ought  to  love  color,  and  to  think  nothing  quite  beau- 
tiful or  perfect  without  it  ;  and  if  you  really  do  love  it, 
for  its  own  sake,  and  are  not  merely  desirous  to  color  be- 
cause you  think  painting  a  finer  thing  than  drawing,  there 
is  some  chance  you  may  color  well.  Nevertheless,  you 
need  not  hope  ever  to  produce  any  thing  more  than  pleas- 
ant helps  to  memory,  or  useful  and  suggestive  sketches  in 
color,  unless  you  mean  to  be  wholly  an  artist.  You  may, 
in  the  time  which  other  vocations  leave  at  your  disposal, 
produce  finished,  beautiful,  and  masterly  drawings  in  light 
and  shade.  But  to  color  well,  requires  your  life.  It  can- 
not be  (tone  cheaper.  The  difficulty  of  doing  right  is  in- 

*  The  first  four  paragraphs  of  this  chapter,  this  connecting  paren- 
thesis excepted,  are  reprinted  from  the  '  Elements  of  Drawing. '  Read, 
however,  carefully,  the  modifying  notes. 


94  THE  LAWS   OF  F.ESOLE. 

creased — -not  twofold  nor  threefold,  but  a  thousandfold, 
and  more — by  the  addition  of  color  to  your  work.  For 
the  chances  are  more  than  4  thousand  to  one  against  your 
being  right  both  in  form  and  color  "with  a  given  touch  :  it 
is  difficult  enough  to  be  right  in  form,  if  you  attend  to 
that  only  ;  but  when  you  have  to  attend,  at  the  same  mo- 
ment, to  a  much  more  subtle  thing"  than  the  form,  the  diffi- 
culty is  strangely  increased  ; — and  multiplied  almost  to  in- 
finity by  this  great  fact,  that,  while  form  is  absolute,  so 
that  you  can  say  at  the  moment  you  draw  any  line  that  it 
is  either  right  or  wrong,  color  is  ( wholly )  relative.*  Every 
hue  throughout  your  work  is  altered  by  every  touch  that 
you  add  in  other  places  ;  so  that  what  was  warmf  a  min- 
ute ago,  becomes  cold  when  you  have  put  a  hotter  color  in 
another  place  ;  and  what  wras  in  harmony  when  yoa  left 
it,  becomes  discordant  as  you  set  other  colors  beside  it  : 
so  that  every  touch  must  be  laid,  not  with  a  view  to  its 
effect  at  the  time,  but  its  effect  in  futurity,  the  result  upon 

*  No,  not  '  wholly  '  by  any  means  This  is  one  of  the  over-hasty 
statements  which  render  it  impossible  for  me  to  republish,  without 
more  correction  than  they  are  worth,  the  books  I  wrote  before  the  year 
1860.  Color  is  no  less  positive  than  line,  considered  as  a  representation 
of  fact ;  and  you  either  match  a  given  color,  or  do  not,  as  you  either 
draw  a  given  ellipse  or  square,  or  do  not.  Nor,  on  the  other  hand, 
are  lines,  in  their  grouping,  destitute  of  relative  influence  ;  they  exalt 
or  depress  their  individual  powers  by  association  ;  and  the  necessity 
for  the  correction  of  the  above  passage  in  this  respect  was  pointed  out 
to  me  by  Miss  Hill,  many  and  many  a  year  ago,  when  she  was  using 
the  Elements  in  teaching  design  for  glass.  But  the  influence  of  lines 
on  each  other  is  restricted  within  narrow  limits,  while  the  sequences 
of  color  are  like  those  of  sound,  and  susceptible  of  all  the  complexity 
and  passion  of  the  most  accomplished  music. 

f  I  assumed  in  the  '  Elements  of  Drawing  '  the  reader's  acquaintance 
with  this  and  other  ordinary  terms  of  art.  But  see  §  30  of  the  last 
chapter. 


VIII.    OF  THE  RELATION  OF  COLOR  TO  OUTLINE.         95 

it  of  all  that  is  afterwards  to  be  done  being  previously  con- 
sidered. You  may  easily  understand  that,  this  being  so, 
nothing  but  the  devotion  of  life,  and  great  genius  besides, 
can  make  a  colorist. 

2.  But  though  you  cannot   produce    finished   colored 
drawings  of  any  value,  you  may  give  yourself  much  pleas- 
ure, and  be  of  great  use  to  other  people,  by  occasionally 
sketching  with  a  view  to  color  only  ;  and  preserving  dis- 
tinct statements  of  certain  color  facts — as  that  the  harvest- 
moon  at  rising  was  of  such  and  such  a  red,  and  surrounded 
by  clouds  of  such  and  such  a  rosy  gray  ;    that  the  moun- 
tains at  evening  were,  in  truth,  so  deep  in  purple  ;  and  the 
waves  by  the  boat's  side  were  indeed  of  that  incredible 
green.     This  only,  observe,  if  you  have  an  eye  for  color  ; 
but  you  may  presume  that  you  have  this,  if  you  enjoy  color. 

3.  And,  though  of  course  you  should  always  give  as 
much  form  to  your  subject  as  your  attention  to  its  color 
will  admit  of,  remember  that  the  whole  value  of  what  you 
are  about  depends,  in  a  colored  sketch,  on  the  color  merely. 
If  the  color  is  wrong,  every  thing  is  wrong  :    just  as,  if 
you  are  singing,  and  sing  false  notes,  it  does  not  jnatter 
how  true  the  words  are.     If  you  sing  at  all,  you  must  sing 
sweetly  ;  and  if  you  color  at  all,  you  must  color  rightly. 
Give  up  all  the  form,  rather  than  the  slightest  part  of  the 
color  :  just  as,  if  you  felt  yourself  in  danger  of  a  false 
note,  you  would  give  up  the  word  and  sing  a  meaningless 
sound,  if  you  felt  that  so  you  could  save  the  note.     Never 
mind  though  your  houses  are  all  tumbling  down, — though 
your  clouds  are  mere  blots,  and  your  trees  mere  knobs, 
and  your  sun  and  moon  like  crooked  sixpences, — so  only 
that  trees,  clouds,  houses,   and  sun  or  moon,  are  of  the 
right  colors. 


96  THE   LAWS  OF  FESOLE. 

4.  Of  course,  the  collateral  discipline  to  which  you  are 
submitting — (if  you  are) — will   soon   enable  you  to  hint 
something,  of  form,  even  in  the  fastest  sweep  of  the  brush  ; 
but  do  not  let  the  thought  of  form  hamper  you  in  the 
least,  when  you  begin  to  make  colored  memoranda.     If 
you  want  the  form  of  the  subject,  draw  it  in  black  and 
white.     If  you  want  its  color,  take  its  color,  and  be  sure 
you  have  it  ;  and  not  a  spurious,  treacherous,  half -measured 
piece  of  mutual  concession,  with  the  colors  all  wrong,  and 
the  forms  still  any  thing  but  right.     It  is  best  to  get  into 
the  habit  of  considering  the  colored  work  merely  as  sup- 
plementary to  your  other  studies  ;    making  your  careful 
drawings  of  the  subject  first,  and  then  a  colored  memoran- 
dum separately,  as  shapeless  as  you  like,  but  faithful  in 
hue,  and  entirely  minding  its  own  business.     This  princi- 
ple, however,  bears  chiefly  on  large  and  distant  subjects  ; 
in  foregrounds,  and  near  studies,  the  color  cannot  be  got 
without  a  good  deal  of  definition  of  form.     For  if  you  do 
not  shape  the  mosses  on  the  stones  accurately,  you  will  not 
have  the  right  quantity  of  color  in  each  bit  of  moss  pat- 
tern, and  then  none  of  the  colors  will  look  right  ;  but  it 
always  simplifies  the  work  much  if  you  are  clear  as  to  your 
point  of  aim,  and  satisfied,  when  necessary,  to  fail  of  all 
but  that. 

5.  Thus  far  I  have  repeated, with  modification  of  two  sen- 
tences only,  the  words  of  my  old  *  Elements  of  Drawing  ;' 
- — words  which  I  could  not  change  to  any  good  purpose,  so 
far  as  they  are  addressed  to  the  modern  amateur,  whose 
mind  has  been  relaxed,  as  in  these  days  of  licentious  pur- 
suit of  pleasurable  excitement  all  our  minds  must  be,  more 
or  less,  to  the  point  of  not  being  able  to  endure  the  stress 
of  wholesome  and  errorless  labor, — (errorless,  I  mean,  of 


VIII.    OF  THE  RELATION  OF  COLOR  TO  OUTLINE.         97 

course,  only  as  far  as  care  can  prevent  fault).  But  the 
laws  of  Fesole  address  themselves  to  no  person  of  such 
temper  ;  they  are  written  only  for  students  who  have  the 
fortitude  to  do  their  best ;  and  I  am  not  minded  any 
more,  as  will  be  seen  in  next  chapter,  while  they  have 
any  store  of  round  sixpences  in  their  pockets,  to  allow 
them  to  draw  their  Sun,  Earth,  or  Moon  like  crooked  ones. 

6.  Yet  the  foregoing  paragraphs  are  to  be  understood 
also  in  a  nobler  sense.     They  are  right,  and  for  evermore 
right,  in  their  clear  enunciation  of  the  necessity  of  being 
true  in  color,  as  in  music,  note  to  note  ;    and  therefore 
also  in  their  implied  assertion  of  the  existence  of  Color- 
Law,  recognizable  by  all  colorists,  as  harmony  is  by  all 
musicians  ;    and  capable  of  being  so  unanimously  ascer- 
tained by  accurate  obedience  to  it,  that  an  ill-colored  pic- 
ture could  be  no  more  admitted  into  the  gallery  of  any 
rightly  constituted  Academy,  or  Society  of  Painters,  than 
a  howling  dog  into  a  concert. 

7.  I  say,  observe,  that  Color- Law  may  be  ascertained 
by  accurate  obedience  to  it  ;  not  by  theories  concerning  it. 
No  musical  philosophy  will  ever  teach  a  girl  to  sing,  or  a 
master  to  compose  ;    and  no  color-philosophy  will  ever 
teach  a  man  of  science  to  enjoy  a  picture,  or  a  dull  paint- 
er to  invent  one.     Nor  is  it  prudent,  in  early  practice, 
even  to  allow  the  mind  to  be  influenced  by  its  preferences 
and  fancies  in  color,  however  delicate.     The  first  thing 
the  student  has  to  do  is  to  enable  himself  to  match  any 
color  when  he  sees  it  ;  and  the  effort  which  he  must  make 
constantly,  for  many  a  day,  is  simply  to  match  the  color 
of  natural  objects  as  nearly  as  he  can. 

And  since  the  mightiest  masters  in  the  world  cannot 
match  these  quite,  nor  any  but  the  mightiest  match  them, 


98  THE    LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

even  nearly  ;  the  young  student  must  be  content,  for 
many  and  many  a  day,  to  endure  his  own  deficiencies 
with  resolute  patience,  and  lose  no  time  in  hopeless  efforts 
to  rival  what  is  admirable  in  art,  or  copy  what  is  inimita- 
ble in  nature. 

8.  And  especially,  he  must  for  a  long  time  abstain  from 
attaching  too  much  importance  to  the  beautiful  mystery 
by  which  the  blended  colors  of  objects  seen  at  some  dis- 
tance charm  the  eye  inexplicably.     The  day  before  yester- 
day, as  I  was  resting  in  the  garden,  the  declining  sun- 
shine touched  just  the  points  of  the  withered  snapdragons 
on  its  wall.     They  never  had  been  any  thing  very  bril- 
liant in  the  way  of  snapdragons,   and  were,  when  one 
looked  at  them  close,  only  wasted  and  much  pitiable  ruins 
of  snapdragons  ;  but  this  Enid-like  tenderness  of  their 
fading  gray,   mixed  with  what   remnant   of  glow   they 
coidd  yet  raise  into  the  rosy  sunbeams,  made  them,  at  a 
little  distance,  beautiful  beyond  all  that  pencil  could  ever 
follow.     But  you  are  not  to  concern  yourself  with  such 
snapdragons  yet,  nor  for  a  long  while  yet. 

Attempt  at  first  to  color  nothing  but  what  is  well  within 
sight,  and  approximately  copiable  ; — but  take  a  group  of 
objects  always,  not  a  single  one  ;  outline  them  with  the 
utmost  possible  accuracy,  with  the  lead  ;  and  then  paint 
each  of  its  own  color,  with  such  light  and  shade  as  you 
can  see  in  it,  and  produce,  in  the  first  wash,  as  the  light 
and  shade  is  produced  in  Plate  VI.,  never  retouching. 
This  law  will  compel  you  to  look  well  what  the  color  is, 
before  you  stain  the  paper  with  any  :  it  will  lead  you, 
through  that  attention,  daily  into  more  precision  of  eye, 
and  make  all  your  experience  gainful  and  definite. 

9.  Unless  you  are  very  sure  that  the  shadow  is  indeed 


VIII.   OF  THE  RELATION  OF  COLOR  TO  OUTLINE.         99 

of  some  different  color  from  the  light,  shade  simply  with 
a  deeper,  and  if  you  already  know  what  the  word  means, 
a  warmer,  tone  of  the  color  you  are  using.  Darken,  for 
instance,  or  with  crocus,  ruby  with  clarissa,  heath  with 
ruby  ;  and,  generally,  any  color  whatever  with  the  one 
next  to  it,  between  it  and  the  jasper.  And  in  all  mixed 
colors  make  the  shade  of  them  slightly  more  vivid  in  hue 
than  the  light,  unless  you  assuredly  see  it  in  nature  to  be 
less  so.  But  for  a  long  time,  do  not  trouble  yourself 
much  with  these  more  subtle  matters  ;  and  attend  only  to 
the  three  vital  businesses  ; — approximate  matching  of  the 
main  color  in  the  light, — perfect  limitation  of  it  by  the 
outline,  and  flat,  flawless  laying  of  it  over  all  the  space 
within. 

10.  For  instance,  I  have  opposite  me,  by  chance,  at  this 
moment,  a  pale  brown  cane-bottomed  chair,  set  against  a 
pale  greenish  wall-paper.  The  front  legs  of  the  chair  are 
round  ;  the  back  ones,  something  between  round  and 
square  ;  and  the  cross-bar  of  the  back,  flat  in  its  own  sec- 
tion, but  bent  into  a  curve. 

To  represent  these  roundings,  squarings,  and  flattenings 
completely,  with  all  the  tints  of  brown  and  gray  involved 
in  them,  would  take  a  forenoon's  work,  to  little  profit. 
But  to  outline  the  entire  chair  with  extreme  precision, 
and  then  tint  it  with  two  well-chosen  colors,  one  for  the 
brown  wood,  the  other  for  the  yellow  cane,  completing  it, 
part  by  part,  with  gradation,  such  as  could  be  commanded 
in  the  wet  color  ;  and  then  to  lay  the  green  of  the  wall 
behind,  into  the  spaces  left,  fitting  edge  to  edge  without 
a  flaw  or  an  overlapping,  would  be  progressive  exercise  of 
the  best  possible  kind. 

Again,  on  another  chair  beside  me  there  is  a  heap  of 


100  THE   LAWS  OF  FESOLE. 

books,  as  the  maid  lias  chanced  to  leave  them,  lifting 
them  off  the  table  when  she  brought  my  breakfast.  It  is 
not  by  any  means  a  pretty  or  picturesque  group  ;  but 
there  are  no  railroad-stall  bindings  in  it, — there  are  one 
or  two  of  old  vellum,  and  .some  sober  browns  and  greens, 
and  a  bit  of  red  ;  and,  altogether,  much  more  variety  of 
color  than  anybody  but  an  old  Venetian  could  paint 
rightty.  But  if  you  see*  any  day  such  a  pleasantly  in- 
considerate heap  of  old  books,  then  outline  them  with  per- 
fect precision,  and  then  paint  each  of  its  own  color  at 
once,  to  the  best  of  your  power,  completely  finishing  that 
particular  book,  as  far  as  you  mean  to  finish  it,f  before 
you  touch  the  white  paper  with  the  slightest  tint  of  the 
next, — you  will  have  gone  much  farther  than  at  present 
you  can  fancy  any  idea,  towards  gaining  the  power  of 
painting  a  Lombard  tower,  or  a  Savoyard  precipice,  in 
the  right  way  also, — that  is  to  say,  joint  by  joint,  and  tier 
by  tier. 

11.  One  great  advantage  of  such  practice  is  in  the  ne- 
cessity of  getting  the  color  quite  even,  that  it  may  fit  with 
precision,  and  yet  without  any  hard  line,  to  the  piece  next 
laid  on.  If  there  has  been  the  least  too  much  in  the 
brush,  it  of  course  clogs  and  curdles  at  the  edge,  whereas 
it  ought  to  be  at  the  edge  just  what  it  is  at  the  middle, 
and  to  end  there,  whatever  its  outline  may  be,  as — 
Well,  as  you  see  it  does  end,  if  you  look,  in  the  thing  you 
are  painting.  Hardness,  so  called,  and  myriads  of  other 

*  You  had  better  '  see  '  or  find,  than  construct  them  ; — else  they  will 
alwa^ys  have  a  constructed  look,  somehow. 

f  The  drawing  of  the  lines  that  show  the  edges  of  the  leaves,  or,  in 
the  last  example,  of  the  interlacing  in  the  cane  of  the  chair,  is  entirely 
a  subsequent  process,  not  here  contemplated. 


L 


VIII.   OF  THE  DELATION  OF  COLOR  TO  OUTLINE.       101 

nameless  faults,  are  all  traceable,  ultimately,  to  mere 
want  of  power  or  attention  in  keeping  tints  quiet  at  their 
boundary. 

12.  Quiet — and  therefore  keen  ;  for  with  this  boundary 
of  them,  ultimately,  you  are  to  draw,  and  not  with  a  black- 
lead  outline  ;    so  that  the  power  of  the  crags  on  the  far- 
away mountain  crest,  and  the  beauty  of  the  fairest  saint 
that  stoops  from  heaven,  will  depend,  for  true  image  of 
them,  utterly  on  the  last  line  that  your  pencil  traces  with 
the  edge  of  its  color,  true  as  an  arrow,  and  light  as  the 
air.     In  the  meantime,  trust  me,  every  thing  depends  on 
the  lead  outlines  being  clear  and  sufficient.     After  my 
own  forty  years'  experience,  I  find  nearly  all  difficulties 
resolve  themselves  at  last  into  the  want  of  more  perfect 
outline  :   so  -that  I  say  to  myself — before  any  beautiful 
scene, — Alas,  if  only  I  had  the  outline  of  that,  what  a 
lovely  thing  I  would  make  of  it  in  an  hour  or  two  !     But 
then  the  outline  would  take,  for  the  sort  of  things  I  want 
to  draw,  not  an  hour,  but  a  year,  or  two  ! 

13.  Yet  you  need  not  fear  getting  yourself  into  a  like 
discomfort  by  taking  my  counsel.     This  sorrow  of  mine 
is  because  I  want  to  paint  Rouen  Cathedral,  or  St.  Mark's," 
or  a  whole  German  towrn  with  all  the  tiles  on  the  roofs, 
that  one  might  know  against  what  kind    of   multitude 
Luther  threw  his  defiance.     If  you  will  be  moderate  in 
your  desires  as  to  subject,  you  need  not  fear  the  oppres- 
siveness of  the  method  ; — fear  it,  however,  as  you  may,  I 
tell  you  positively  it  is  the  only  method  by  which  you 
can  ever  force  the  Fates  to  grant  you  good  success. 

14.  The  opposite  plate,  VII. ,  will  give  you  an  idea  of  the 
average  quantity  of  lines  which  Turner  used  in  any  land- 
scape sketch  in  his  great  middle  time,  whether  he  meant 


102  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

to  color  it  or  not.  He  made  at  least  a  hundred  sketches 
of  this  kind  for  one  that  he  touched  with  color  :  nor  is  it 
ever  possible  to  distinguish  any  difference  in  manner  be- 
tween outlines  (on  white  paper)  intended  for  color,  or 
only  for  notation  :  in  every  case,  the  outline  is  as  perfect 
as  his  time  admits  ;  and  in  his  earlier  days,  if  his  leisure 
does  not  admit  of  its  perfection,  it  is  not  touched  with 
color  at  all.  In  later  life,  when,  as  he  afterwards  said  of 
himself,  in  woful  repentance,  "  he  wanted  to  draw  every 
thing,"  both  the  lead  outline  and  the  color  dash  became 
slight  enough, — but  never  inattentive  ;  nor  did  the  lead 
outline  ever  lose  its  governing  proportion  to  all  subse- 
quent work. 

15.  And  now,  of  this  outline,  you  must  observe  three 
things.  First,  touching  its  subject  ;  that  the  scene  was 
worth  drawing  at  all,  only  for  its  human  interest ;  and 
that  this  charm  of  inhabitation  was  always  first  in  Tur- 
ner's mind.  If  he  had  only  wanted  what  vulgar  artists 
think  picturesque,  he  might  have  found,  in  such  an  Eng- 
lish valley  as  this,  any  quantity  of  old  tree-trunks,  of 
young  tree-branches,  of  lilied  pools  in  the  brook,  and  of 
grouped  cattle  in  the  meadows.  For  no  such  mere  pic- 
ture-material he  cares  ;  his  time  is  given  to  seize  and  show 
the  total  history  and  character  of  the  spot,  and  all  that  the 
people  of  England  had  made  of  it,  and  become  in  it. 
There  is  the  ruined  piece  of  thirteenth-century  abbey  ; 
the  rector's  house  beside  it  ;*  the  gate-posts  of  the  squire's 
avenue  above  ;  the  steep  fourteenth  or  fifteenth-century 
bridge  over  the  stream  ;  the  low-roofed,  square- towered 

*  Compare,  if  by  chance  you  come  across  the  book,  the  analysis  of 
the  design  of  Turner's  drawing  of  *  Heysham  '  in  my  old  '  Elements  of 
Drawing,'  page  325. 


VIII.    OF  THE  RELATION  OF  COLOR  TO  OUTLINE.       103 

village  church  on  the  lull  ;  two  or  three  of  the  village 
houses  and  outhouses  traced  on  the  left,  omitting,  that 
these  may  be  intelligible,  the  "  row  of  old  trees,"  which, 
nevertheless,  as  a  part,  and  a  principal  part,  of  the  land- 
scape, are  noted,  by  inscription,  below  ;  and  will  be  as- 
suredly there,  if  ever  he  takes  up  the  subject  for  complete 
painting  ;  as  also  the  tall  group  of  i  ash  '  on  the  right,  of 
which  he  is  content  at  present  merely  to  indicate  the 
place,  and  the  lightness. 

16.  Do  not  carry  this  principle  of  looking  for  signs  of 
human  life  or  character,  any  more  than  you  carry  any 
other  principle,  to  the  point  of  affectation.      Whatever 
pleases  and  satisfies  you  for  the  present,  may  be  wisely 
drawn  ;  but  remember  always  that  the  beauty  of  any  nat- 
ural object  is  relative  to  the  creatures  it  has  to  please  ; 
and  that  the  pleasure  of  these  is  in  proportion  to  their 
reverence  and  their  understanding.     There  can  be  no  nat- 
ural '  phenomena  '  without  the  beings  to  whom  they  are 
'  phenomenal  '  (or,  in  plainer  English,  things  cannot  be  ap- 
parent without  some  one  to  whom  they  may  appear),  and 
the  final  definition  of  Beauty  is,  the  power  in  any  thing 
of  delighting  an  intelligent* human  soul  by  its  appearance, 
— power  given  to  it  by  the  Maker  of  Souls.     The  perfect 
beauty  of  Man  is  summed  in  the  Arabian  exclamation, 
"  Praise  be  to  Him  who  created  thee  !"  and  the  perfect 
beauty  of  all  natural  things  summed  in  the  Angel's  prom- 
ise, "  Goodwill  towards  men." 

17.  In  the  second  place,  observe,  in  this  outline,  that 
no  part  of  it  is  darker  or  lighter  than  any  other,  except 
in  the  moment  of  ceasing  or  disappearing.     As  the  edge 
becomes  less  and  less  visible  to  the  eye,  Turner's  pencil 
line  fades,  and  vanishes  where  also  the  natural  outline 


104  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

vanished.  But  he  does  not  draw  his  ash  trees  in  the  fore- 
ground with  a  darker  line  than  the  woods  in  the  dis- 
tance. 

This  is  a  great  and  constant  law.  Whether  your  out- 
line be  gray  or  black,  fine  or  coarse,  it  is  to  \>e  equal  every- 
where. Always  conventional,  it  is  to  be  sustained  through- 
out in  the  frankness  of  its  conventionalism  ;  it  no  more 
exists  in  nature  as  a  visible  line,  at  the  edge  of  a  rose  leaf 
near,  than  of  a  ridge  of  hills  far  away.  .Never  try  to  ex- 
press more  by  it  than  the  limitation  of  forms  ;  it  has 
nothing  to  do  with  their  shadows,  or  their  distances. 

18.  Lastly,  observe  of  this  Turner  outline,  there  are 
some  conditions  of  rapid  grace  in  it,  and  others  of  con- 
structive effect  by  the  mere  placing  of  broken  lines  in  rel- 
ative groups,  which,  in  the  first  place,  can  be  but  poorly 
rendered  even  by  the  engraver's  most  painstaking  fac- 
simile ;  and,  in  the  second,  cannot  be  attained  in  practice 
but  after  many  years  spent  in  familiar  use  of  the  pencil. 
I  have  therefore  given  you  this  plate,  not  so  much  for  an 
immediate  model,  as  to  show  you  the  importance  of  out- 
line even  to  a  painter  whose  chief  virtue  and  skill  seemed, 
in  his  finished  works,  to  consist  in  losing  it.     How  little 
this  was  so  in  reality,  you  can  only  know  by  prolonged 
attention,  not  only  to  his  drawings,  but  to  the  natural 
forms  they  represent. 

19.  For  there  were  current  universally  during  Turner's 
lifetime,*  and  there  are  still  current  very  commonly,  two 

*  I  conclude  the  present  chapter  with  the  statement  given  in  the 
catalogue  I  prepared  to  accompany  the  first  exhibition  of  his  works  at 
Marl  borough  House,  in  the  year  1857  ,  because  it  illustrates  some 
points  in  water-color  work,  respecting  which  the  student's  mind  may 
advisedly  be  set  at  rest  bctore  further  procedure.  I  have  also  left  the 
17th  paragraph  without  qualification,  on  account  of  its  great  iinpor- 


PEN   OUTLINE   WIT  H    ADVANCED  SHADE. 
Schools  of  St.  George.     Elementary   Drawing.     Plate   VIII. 


VIII.   OF  THE  RELATION  OF  COLOR  TO  OUTLINE.      105 

great  errors  concerning  him  ;  errors  which  not  merely 
lose  sight  of  the  facts,  but  which  are  point-blank  contra- 
dictory  of  the  facts.  It  was  thought  that  he  painted 
chiefly  from  imagination,  when  his  peculiar  character,  as 
distinguished  from  all  other  artists,  was  in  always  draw- 
ing from  memories  of  seen  fact.  And  it  was  commonly 
thought  that  he  was  great  only  in  coloring,  and  could  not 
draw  ;  whereas,  his  eminent  distinction  above  other  art- 
ists, so  far  as  regards  execution,  was  in  his  marvellous 
precision  of  graphic  touch,  disciplined  by  practice  of  en- 
graving, and  by  life-long  work  with  the  hard  lead  pencil- 
point  on  white  paper. 

20.  Now  there  are  many  truths  respecting  art  which 
cannot  be  rightly  stated  without  involving  an  appearance 
of  contradiction  ;  and  those  truths  are  commonly  the  most 
important.  There  are,  indeed,  very  few  truths  in  any  sci- 
ence which  can  be  fully  stated  without  such  an  expres- 
sion of  their  opposite  sides,  as  looks,  to  a  person  who  has 
not  grasp  of  the  subject  enough  to  take  in  both  the  sides 
at  once,  like  contradiction.  This  law  holds  down  even  to 
very  small  minutiae  in  the  physical  sciences.  For  in- 
stance, a  person  ignorant  of  chemistry  hearing  it  stated, 
perhaps  consecutively,  of  hydrogen  gas,  that  it  was  "  in 
a  high  degree  combustible,"  and  "a  non-supporter  of 
combustion,"  would  probably  think  the  lecturer  or  writer 
was  a  fool  ;  and  when  the  statement  thus  made  embraces 
wide  fields  of  difficult  investigation  on  both  sides,  its  final 
terms  invariably  appear  contradictory  to  a  person  who  has 
but  a  narrow  acquaintance  with  the  matter  in  hand. 

tance  ;  but  the  student  must  be  careful  in  reading  it  to  distinguish  be- 
tween true  outline,  and  a  linear  basis  for  future  shadow,  as  in  Plate 
VIII. ,  which  I  put  here  for  immediate  reference. 


108  THE    LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

employed  by  inferior  water-color  painters.  Many  tradi- 
tions indeed  are  afloat  in  the  world  of  art  respecting  extra- 
ordinary processes  through  which  he  carried  his  work  in 
its  earlier  stages  ;  and  I  think  it  probable  that,  in  some  of 
his  elaborately  completed  drawings,  textures  were  pre- 
pared, by  various  mechanical  means,  over  the  general  sur- 
face of  the  paper,  before  the  drawing  of  detail  was  begun. 
Also,  in  the  large  drawings  of  early  date,  the  usual  expedi- 
ents of  sponging  and  taking  out  color  by  friction  have 
often  been  employed  by  him  ;  Lut  it  appears  only  experi- 
mentally, and  that  the  final  rejection  of  all  such  expedi- 
ents was  the  result  of  their  trial  ;  for  in  all  the  rest  of  the 
national  collection  the  evidence  is  as  clear  as  it  is  copious 
that  he  went  straight  to  his  mark  ;  in  early  days  finishing 
piece  by  piece  on  the  white  paper  ;  and,  as  he  advanced 
in  skill,  laying  the  main  masses  in  broad  tints,  and  work- 
ing the  details  over  these  :  never  effacing  or  sponging, 
but  taking  every  advantage  of  the  wetness  of  the  color, 
when  first  laid,  to  bring  out  soft  lights  with  the  point  of 
the  brush,  or  scratch  out  bright  ones  with  the  end  of  the 
stick,  so  driving  the  wet  color  in  a  dark  line  to  the  edge 
of  the  light, — a  very  favorite  mode  of  execution  with 
him,  for  three  reasons  :  that  it  at  once  gave  a  dark  edge, 
and  therefore  full  relief,  to  the  piece  of  light ;  secondly, 
that  it  admitted  of  firm  and  angular  drawing  of  forms  ; 
and,  lastly,  that  as  little  color  was  removed  from  the 
whole  mass  (the  quantity  taken  from  the  light  being  only 
driven  into  the  dark),  the  quantity  of  hue  in  the  mass  it- 
self, as  broadly  laid,  in  its  first  membership  with  other 
masses,  was  not  much  affected  by  the  detailing  process. 

25.  When  these  primary  modifications  of  the  wet  color 
had  been  obtained,  the  drawing  was  proceeded  with,  ex- 


VIII.   OF  THE  RELATION  OF  COLOR  TO  OUTLINE.      109 

actly  in  the  manner  of  "William  Hunt,  of  the  old  Water- 
color  Society,  (if  worked  in  transparent  hues,)  or  of  John 
Lewis,  if  iri  opaque, — that  is  to  say,  with  clear,  firm,  and 
unalterable  touches  one  over  another,  or  one  into  the  in- 
sterstices  of  another  ;  NEVER  disturbing  them  by  any  gen- 
eral wash  ;  using  friction  only  where  roughness  of  surface 
was  locally  required  to  produce  effects  of  granulated 
stone,  mossy  ground,  and  such  like  ;  a.nd  rarely  even  tak- 
ing out  minute  lights,  but  leaving  them  from  the  first, 
and  working  round  and '  up  to  them  ; — very  frequently 
drawing  thin,  dark  outlines  merely  by  putting  a  little 
more  water  into  the  wet  touches,  so  as  to  drive  the  color 
to  the  edge  as  it  dried  ;  the  only  difference  between  his 
manipulation  and  William  Hunt's  being  in  his  inconceiva- 
bly varied  and  dexterous  use  of  expedients  of  this  kind, — 
such,  for  instance,  as  drawing  the  broken  edge  of  a  cloud 
merely  by  a  modulated  dash  of  the  brash,  defining  the 
perfect  forms  with  a  quiver  of  his  hand  ;  rounding  them 
by  laying  a  little  more  color  into  one  part  of  the  dash  be- 
fore it  dried,  and  laying  the  warm  touches  of  the  light 
after  it  had  dried,  outside  of  the  edges.  In  many  cases, 
the  instantaneous  manipulation  is  quite  inexplicable. 

26.  It  is  quite  possible,  however,  that,  even  in  the  most 
advanced  stages  of  some  of  the  finished  drawings,  they 
may  have  been  damped,  or  even  fairly  put  under  water, 
and  wetted  through  ;  nay,  they  may  even  have  been  ex- 
posed to  strong  currents  of  water,  so  as  to  remove  super- 
fluous color  without  defiling  the  tints  anywhere  ;  only 
most  assuredly  they  never  received  any  friction  such  as 
would  confuse  or  destroy  the  edges  and  purity  of  separate 
tints.  And  all  I  can  assert  is,  that  in  the  national  collec- 
tion there  is  no  evidence  of  any  such  processes.  In  the 


110  .  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

plurality  of  the  drawings  the  evidence  is,  on  the  con- 
trary, absolute,  that  nothing  of  the  kind  has  taken  place  ; 
the  greater  number  being  executed  on  leaves  of  books, 
neither  stretched  nor  moistened  in  any  way  whatever  ;  or 
eke  on  little  bits  of  gray  paper,  often  folded  in  four,  and 
as  often  with  the  colored  drawings  made  on  ~both  sides  of  a 
leaf.  The  coarser  vignettes  are  painted  on  sheets  of  thin 
drawing-paper  ;  the  finer  ones  on  smooth  cardboard,  of 
course  without  washing  or  disturbing  the  edges,  of  which 
the  perfect  purity  is  essential  to  the  effect  of  the  vignette. 

27.  I  insist  on  this  point  at  greater  length,  because,  so 
far  as  the  direct  copying  of  Turner's  drawings  can  be  use- 
ful to  the  student  (working  from  nature  with  Turner's 
faithfulness  being  the  essential  part  of  "his  business),  it 
will  be  so  chiefly  as  compelling  him  to  a  decisive  and 
straightforward  execution.  1  observed  that  in  the  former 
exhibition  the  students  generally  selected  those  drawings 
for  study  which  could  be  approximately  imitated  by  the 
erroneous  processes  of  modern  water  color  ;  and  which 
were  therefore  exactly  those  that  showed  them  least  of 
Turner's  mind,  and  taught  them  least  of  his  methods. 

The  best  practice,  and  the  most  rapid  appreciation  of 
Turner,  will  be  obtained  by  accurately  copying  his 
sketches  in  body  color  on  gray  paper  ;  and  when  once  the 
method  is  understood,  and  the  resolution  made  to  hold  by 
it,  the  student  will  soon  h'nd  that  the  advantage  gained  is 
in  more  directions  than  one.  For  tBe  sum  of  work  which 
he  can  do  will  be  as  much  greater  in  proportion  to  his  de- 
cision, as  it  will  be  in  each  case  better,  and,  after  the  first 
efforts,  more  easily  done.  He  may  have  been  appalled  by 
the  quantity  which  he  sees  that  Turner  accomplished  ;  but 
he  will  be  encouraged  when  he  finds  how  much  any  one 


VIII.    OF  THE  RELATION  OF  COLOR  TO  OUTLINE.      Ill 

may  accomplish  who  does  not  hesitate,  nor  repent.  An 
artist's  nerve  and  power  of  mind  are  lost  chiefly  in  decid- 
ing what  to  do,  and  in  effacing  what  he  has  done  :  it  is 
anxiety,  not  labor,  that  fatigues  him  ;  and  vacillation,  not 
difficulty,  that  hinders  him.  And  if  the  student  feels 
doubt  respecting  his  own  decision  of  inind,  and  questions 
the  possibility  of  gaining  the  habit  of  it,  let  him  be  as- 
sured that  in  art,  as  in  life,  it  depends  mainly  on  sim- 
plicity of  purpose.  Turner's  decision  came  chiefly  of  his 
truthfulness  ;  it  was  because  he  meant  always  to  be  true, 
that  he  was  able  always  to  be  bold.  And  you  will  find 
that  you  may  gain  his  courage,  if  you  will  maintain  his 
fidelity.  If  you  want  only  to  make  your  drawing  fine,  or 
attractive,  you  may  hesitate  indeed,  long  and  often,  to 
consider  whether  your  faults  will  be  forgiven,  or  your 
fineries  perceived.  But  if  you  want  to  put  fair  fact  into 
it,  you  will  find  the  fact  shape  it  fairly  for  you  ;  and  that 
in  pictures,  no  less  than  in  human  life,  they  who  have 
once  made  up  their  minds  to  do  right,  will  have  little 
place  for  hesitation,  and  little  cause  for  repentance. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

OF     MAP     DRAWING. 

1.  OF  all  the  principles  of  Art  which  it  has  been  my 
endeavor  throughout  life  to  inculcate,  none  are  so  impor- 
tant, and  few  so  certain,  as  that  which  modern  artists  have 
chiefly  denied, — that  Art  is  only  in  her  right  place  and 
office  when  she  is  subordinate  to  use  ;  that  her  duty  is 
always  to  teach,  though  to  teach  pleasantly  ;  and  that  she 
is  shamed,  not  exalted,  when  she  has  only  graces  to  dis- 
play, instead  of  truths  to  declare. 

2.  I  do  not  know  if  the  Art  of  Poetry  has  ever  been 
really  advanced  by  the  exercise  of  youth  in  writing  non- 
sense verses  ;  but  I  know  that  the  Art  of  Painting  will 
never  be  so,  by  the  practice  of  drawing  nonsense  lines  ; 
and  that  not  only  it  is  easy  to  make  every  moment  of  time 
spent  111  the  elementary  exercises  of  Art  serviceable  in 
other  directions  ;  but  also  it  will  be  found  that  the  exer- 
cises which  are  directed  most  clearly  to  the  acquisition  of 
general  knowledge,  will  be  swiftest  in  their  discipline  of 
manual  skill,  and  most  decisive  in  their  effect  on  the  for- 
mation of  taste. 

3.  It  will  be  seen,  in  the  sequel  of  the  Laws  of  Fesole, 
that  every  exercise  in  the  book  has  the  ulterior  object  of 
fixing  in  the  student's  mind  some  piece  of  accurate  knowl-. 
edge,  either  in  geology,  botany,  or  the  natural  history  o* 
animals.     The   laws   which   regulate   the   delineation   o£ 


IX.   OF   MAP  DRAWING.  113 

these,  are  still  more  stern  in  their  application  to  the 
higher  branches  of  the  arts  concerned  with  the  history  of 
the  life,  and  symbolism  of  the  thoughts,  of  Man  ;  but  the 
general  student  may  more  easily  learn,  and  at  first  more 
profitably  obey  them,  in  their  gentler  authority  over  in- 
ferior subjects. 

4.  The   beginning  of    all   useful   applications   of    the 
graphic  art  is  of  course  in  the  determination  of  clear  and 
beautiful  forms  for  letters  ;  but  this  beginning  has  been 
invested  by  the  illuminator  with  so  many  attractions,  and 
permits  so  dangerous  a  liberty  to  the  fancy,  that  I  pass  by 
it,  at  first,  to  the  graver  and  stricter  work  of  geography. 
For  our  most  serviceable  practice  of  which,  some  modifi- 
cations appear  to  me  desirable  in  existing  modes  of  globe 
measurement  :  these  I  must  explain  in  the  outset,  and  re- 
quest the  student  to  familiarize  himself  with  them  com- 
pletely before  going  farther. 

5.  On  our  ordinary  globes  the  360  degrees  of  the  equa- 
tor are  divided  into  twenty-four  equal  spaces,  representing 
the    distance  through  which    any  point  of    the  equator 
passes  in  an  hour  of  the  day  :  each  space  therefore  con- 
sisting of  fifteen  degrees. 

This  division  will  be  retained  in  St.  George's  schools  ; 
but  it  appears  to  me  desirable  to  give  the  student  a  more 
clear  and  consistent  notion  of  the  length  of  a  degree  than 
he  is  likely  to  obtain  under  our  present  system  of  instruc- 
tion. I  find,  for  instance,  in  the  Atlas  published  under 
the  superintendence  of  the  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of 
Useful  Knowledge,*  that,  in  England  and  Ireland,  a  de- 

*  The  larger  Atlas  is  without  date  :  the  selection  of  maps  issued  for 
the  use  of  Harrow  School  in  1856  is  not  less  liberal  in  its  views  respect- 
ing the  length  of  a  degree. 


114:  THE   LAWS  OF   FESOLE. 

gree  contains  69.14  English  miles  ;  in  Russia,  69.,  15  ;  in 
Scotland,  69.1  ;  in  Italy,  69  fin  Turkey,  68.95  ;  and  in 
India  68.8.  In  Black's  more  elaborate  Atlas,  the  degree 
at  the  equator  is  given  as  69.6,  whether  of  longitude  or 
latitude,  with  a  delicate  scale  of  diminution  in  the  degrees 
of  latitude  to  the  pole,  of  which  the  first  terms  Avould 
quite  fatally  confuse  themselves  in  a  young  student's  mind 
with  the  wavering  estimates  given,  as  above  quoted,  in 
more  elementary  publications. 

6.  Under  these  circumstances,  since  in  the  form  of  the 
artificial  globe  we  ignore  the  polar  flatness  of  it,  I  shall 
also  ignore  it  in  practical  measurement  ;  and  estimate  the 
degrees  of  longitude  at  the  equator,  and  of  latitude  every- 
where, as  always  divided  into  Italian  miles,  one  to  the 
minute,  sixty  to  the  degree.     The  entire  circumference  of 
the  earth  at  the  equator  will  thus  be  estimated  at  21,600 
miles  ;  any  place  on  the  equator  having  diurnal  motion  at 
the  rate  of  900  miles  an  hour.     The  reduction,   after- 
wards, of  any  required  distance  into  English  miles,  or 
French  kilometres,  will  be  easy  arithmetic. 

7.  The  twenty-four  meridians  drawn  on  our  common 
globes  will  be  retained  on  St.  George's  ;  but  numbered 
consecutively  round  the  globe,  1  to  24,  from  west  to  east. 
The  first  meridian  will  be  that  through  Fesole,  and  called 
Galileo's  line  ;    the  second,   that  approximately  through 
Troy,*  called  the  Ida  line.     The  sixth,  through  the  east- 
ern edge  of  India,  will  be  called  '  the  Orient  line  ;  '  the 
eighteenth,  through  the  Isthmus  of  Vera  Cruz,  '  the  Occi- 
dent line  ;  '  and  the  twenty-fourth,  passing  nearly  with 

*  Accurately,  it  passes  through  Tenedos,  thus  dividing  the  Ida  of 
Zeus  from  the  Ida  of  Poseidon  in  Samothraee.  See  '  Eothen,'  Chap 
ter  IV. ;  and  Dr.  Schliemann's  Troy,  Plate  IV. 


IX.   OF  MAP  DRAWING.  115 

precision,  through  our  English  Devonport,  and  over  Dart- 
moor, '  the  Devon  line. '  Its  opposite  meridian,  the 
twelfth,  through  mid-Pacific,  will  be  called  the  Captains' 
line. 

8.  The  meridians  on  ordinary  globes  are  divided  into 
lengths  of  ten  degrees,  by  eight  circles  drawn  between  the 
equator  and  each  of  the  poles.  But  I  think  this  numera- 
tion confusing  to  the  student,  by  its  inconsistency  with 
the  divisions  of  the  equator,  and  its  multiplication  of  lines 
parallel  to  the  Arctic  and  Tropic  circles.  On  our  St. 
George's  globes,  therefore,  the  divisions  of  latitude  will 
be,  as  those  of  longitude,  each  fifteen  degrees,  indicated 
by  five  circles  drawn  between  each  pole  and  the  equator. 

Calling  the  equator  by  its  own  name,  the  other  circles 
will  be  numbered  consecutively  north  and  south  ;  and 
called  1st,  2nd,  etc.,  to  the  5th,  which  will  be  that  nearest 
the  Pole.  The  first  north  circle  will  be  found  to  pass 
through  the  Cape-de-Verde  island  of  St.  Jago  ;  the  sec- 
ond north  circle  will  be  the  line  of  latitude  on  our  pres- 
ent globes  passing  approximately  through  Cairo  ;  the 
third  will  as  nearly  run  through  Venice  ;  the  fourth, 
almost  with  precision,  through  Christiania  ;  and  the  fifth 
through  Cape  Fern,  in  JSTova  Zembla.  I  wish  my  stu- 
dents to  call  these  circles,  severally,  the  St.  James's  cir- 
cle, the  Arabian  circle,  the  Venetian  circle,  the  Christian 
circle,  and  the  Fern  circle.  On  the  southern  hemisphere, 
I  shall  call  the  first  circle  St.  John's  ;  thus  enclosing  the 
most  glowing  space  of  the  tropics  between  the  lines  named 
from  the  two  Sons  of  Thunder  ;  the  Natal  circle  will 
divide  intelligibly  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa,  and  pre- 
serve the  title  of  an  entirely  true  and  noble, — therefore 
necessarily  much  persecuted, — Christian  Bishop  ;  the  St. 


116 


THE    LAWS   OF    FESOLE. 


George's  circle,  opposite  the  Venetian,  will  mark  the 
mid-quadrant,  reminding  the  student,  also,  that  in  far 
South  America  there  is  a  Gulf  of  St.  George  ;  the  Thule 
circle  will  pass  close  south  of  the  Southern  Thule  ;  and 
the  Blanche  circle  (ligne  Blanche,  for  French  children), 


include,  with  Mounts  Erebus  and  Terror,  the  supposed 
glacial  space  of  the  great  Antarctic  continent. 

9.  By  this  division  of  the  meridians,  the  student,  be- 
sides obtaining  geographical  tenure  in  symmetrical  clear- 
ness, will  be  familiarized  with  the  primary  division  of  the 
circle  by  its  radius  into  arcs  of  60°,  and  with  the  subdivis- 


IX.    OF   MAP   DRAWING.  117 

ions  of  such  arcs.  And  lie  will  observe  that  if  he  draws 
his  circle  representing  the  world  with  a  radius  of  two 
inches,  (in  Figure  18,  that  it  may  come  within  my  type, 
it  is  only  an  inch  and  a  half,)  lettering  the  Equator  Q  R, 
the  North  Pole  P,  the  South  Sole  s,  and  the  centre  of  the 
circle,  representing  that  of  the  Earth,  o  ;  then  complet- 
ing the  internal  hexagon  and  dodecagon,  and  lettering  the 
points  through  which  the  Arabian  and  Christian  circles 
pass,  respectively  A  and  c,  since  the  chord  Q  c  equals  the 
radius  Q  o,  it  will  also  measure  two  inches,  and  the  arc 
upon  it,  Q  A  c,  somewhat  more  than  two  inches,  so  that 
the  entire  circle  will  be  rather  more  than  a  foot  round. 

10.  Now  I  want  some  enterprising  map-seller  *  to  pre- 
pare some  school-globes,  accurately  of  such  dimension  that 
the  twenty-four-sided  figure  enclosed  in.  their  circle  may 
be  exactly  half  an  inch  in  the  side  ;  and  therefore  the 
twenty-four  meridians  and  eleven  circles  of  latitude  drawn 
on  it  with  accurately  horizontal  intervals  of  half  an  inch 
between  each  of  the  meridians  at  the  equator,  and  be- 
tween the  circles  everywhere. 

And,  on  this  globe,  I  want  the  map  of  thevvvorld  en- 
graved in  firm  and  simple  outline,  with  the  principal 
mountain  chains  ;  but  no  rivers, f  and  no  names  of  any 
country  ;  and  this  nameless  chart  of  the  world  is  to  be 
colored,  within  the  Arctic  circles,  the  sea  pale  sapphire, 
and  the  land  white  ;  in  the  temperate  zones,  the  sea  full 

*  I  cannot  be  answerable,  at  present,  for  what  such  enterprise  may 
produce.  I  will  see  to  it  when  I  have  finished  my  book,  if  I  am 
spared  to  do  so. 

f  My  reason  for  this  refusal  is  that  I  want  children  first  to  be  made 
to  guess  the  courses  and  sizes  of  rivers,  from  the  formation  of  the  land  ; 
and  also,  that  nothing  may  disturb  the  eyes  or  thoughts  in  fastening 
on  that  formation. 


118 


THE   LAWS  OF   FESOLE. 


lucia,  and  the  land  pale  emerald  ;  and  between  the  tropics, 
the  sea  full  violet,  and  the  land  pale  clarissa. 

These  globes  I  should  like  to  see  executed  with  ex- 
treme fineness  and  beauty  of  line  and  color  ;  and  each 
enclosed  in  a  perfectly  strong  cubic  case,  with  silk  lining. 
And  I  hope  that  the  time  may  come  when  this  little  globe 


V, 


s 

FIG.  19. 

may  be  just  as  necessary  a  gift  from  the  parents  to  the 
children,  in  any  gentleman's  family,  as  their  shoes  or  bon- 
nets. 

11.  In  the  meantime,  the  letters  by  which  the  circles 
are  distinguished,  added,  in  Figure  19,  to  the  complete 


IX.   OF   MAP   DRAWING.  119 

series  of  horizontal  lines  representing  them,  will  enable 
the  student  rapidly  to  read  and  learn  their  names  from  the 
equator  up  and  down.  "  St.  James's,  Arabian,  Vene- 
tian, Christian,  Fern  ;  St.  John's,  Natal,  St.  George's, 
Thule,  Blanche  ;" — these  names  being  recognized  always 
as  belonging  no  less  to  the  points  in  the  arcs  of  the 
quadrant  in  any  drawing,  than  to  the  globe  circles  ;  and 
thus  rendering  the  specification  of  forms  more  easy.  In 
such  specification,  however,  the  quadrant  must  always  be 
conceived  as  a  part  of  the  complete  circle  ;  the  lines  o  Q 
and  o  R  are  always  to  be  called  '  basic  : '  the  letters  Q  p, 
R  p,  Q  s,  and  R  s,  are  always  to  be  retained,  each  for  their 
own  arc  of  the  quadrant  ;  and  the  points  of  division  in  the 
arcs  R  P  and  R  s  distinguished  from  those  in  the  arcs  Q  p 
and  Q  s  by  small,  instead  of  capital,  letters.  Thus  a  tri- 
angle to  be  drawn  with  its  base  on  St.  George's  circle, 
and  its  apex  in  the  North  Pole,  will  be  asked  for  simply 
as  the  triangle  G  P  g  ;  the  hexagon  with  the  long  and 
short  sides,  c P,  PR,  may  be  placed  at  any  of  the  points  by 
describing  it  as  the  hexagon  QAC, — j  v  v,  or  the  like; 
and  ultimately  the  vertical  triangles  on  the  great  divis- 
ional lines  for  bases  will  need  no  other  definition  than  the 
letters  B  p,  T  p,  G  P,  etc. 

The  lines  F  f  v  v,  etc. ,  taken  as  the  diameters  of  their 
respective  circles,  may  be  conveniently  called,  in  any 
geometrical  figure  in  which  they  occur,  the  Fern  line,  the 
Venetian  line,  etc.  ;  and  they  are  magnitudes  which  will 
be  of  great  constructive  importance  to  us,  for  it  may  be 
easily  seen,  by  thickening  the  lines  of  the  included 
squares,  that  the  square  on  the  Venetian  line,  the  largest 
that  can  be  included  in  the  circle,  is  half  the  square  on  the 
equator  ;  the  square  on  the  Christian  line,  the  square  of 


120  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

the  radius,  is  again  half  of  that  on  the  Venetian  ;  and  the 
square  on  the  Fern  line,  a  fifth  diminishing  term  between 
the  square  of  the  equator  and  zero. 

12.  Next,  1  wish  my  pupils  each  to  draw  for  them- 
selves the  miniature  hemisphere,   Plate  IX.,    Figure  1, 
with  a  radius  of  an  inch  and  nine-tenths,  which  will  give 
them  approximately  the  twenty-four  divisions  of  half  an 
inch  each.     Then,  verticals  are  to  be  let  fall  from  the 
points  j,  A,  etc.,  numbered  1,  2,  3,  4,  and  5,  as  in  Figure 
19,  and  then  the  meridians  in  red,  with  the  pencil,  by 
hand,  through  the  points  1,  2,  etc.,  of  the  figure  ;  observ- 
ing that  each  meridian  must  be  an  elliptical,  not  a  circu- 
lar, arc.     And  now  we  must  return,  for  a  moment,  to  the 
fifteenth  paragraph  of  the  fourth  chapter,  where  we  had 
to  quit  our  elliptic  practice  for  other  compass  work. 

13.  The  ellipse,  as  the  perspective  of  the  circle,  is  so 
important  a  natural  line  that  it  is  needful  to  be  perfectly 
familiar  with  the  look  of  it,  and  perfectly  at  ease  in  the 
tracing  of  it,  before  the  student  can  attempt  with  success 
the  slightest  architectural  or  landscape  outline.     Usually, 
the  drawing  of  the  ellipse  is  left  to  gather  itself  gradually 
out  of  perspective  studies  ;  but  thus  under  a  disadvantage, 
seldom  conquered,  that  the  curve  at  the  narrow  extremity, 
which  is  the  only  important  part  of  it,  is  always  confused 
with  the  right  line  enclosing  the  cylinder  or  circle  to  be 
drawn  ;  and  never  therefore  swept  with  delicacy  or  facil- 
ity.    I  wish,  the  student,  therefore,  to  conquer  all  hesita- 
tion in  elliptic  drawing  at  once,  by  humbly  constructing 
ellipses,  in  sufficiently  various  number,  large  and  small, 
with  two  pins'  heads  and  a  thread  ;  and  copying  these 
with  the  lead,  first,  very  carefully,  then  fastening  the  lead 
line  with  pencil  and  color. 


IX.    OF    MAP   DRAWING.  121 

This  practice  should  be  especially  directed  to  the  ex- 
tremities of  the  narrow  and  long  elliptic  curves,  as  the 
beauty  of  some  of  the  finest  architecture  depends  on  the 
perspective  of  this  form  in  tiers  of  arches  :  while  those  of 
the  shores  of  lakes,  and  bending  of  streams,  though  often 
passing  into  other  and  more  subtle  curves,  will  never  be 
possible  at  all  until  the  student  is  at  ease  in  this  first  and 
elementary  one. 

14.  Returning  to  our  globe  work,  on  the  assumption 
that  the  pupil  will  prepare  for  it  by  this  more  irksome 
practice,  it  is  to  be  noted  that,  for  geographical  purposes, 
we  must  so  far  conventionalize  our  perspective  as  to  sur- 
render the  modifications  produced  by  looking  at  the  globe 
from  near  points  of  sight  ;  and  assume  that  the  perspec- 
tives of  the  meridians  are  orthographic,  as  they  would  bo 
if  the  globe  were  seen  from  an  infinite  distance  ;  and  be- 
come, practically,  when  it  is  removed  to  a  moderate  one. 
The   real   perspectives   of   the   meridians,   drawn    on  an 
orange  six  feet  off,  would  be  quite  too  subtle  for  any  ordi- 
nary draughtsmanship  ;  and  there  would  be  no  end  to  the 
intricacy  of  our  map  drawing  if  we  were  to  attempt  them, 
even  on  a  larger  scale.     I  assume,  therefore,  for  our  map 
work,  that  the  globe  may  be  represented,  when  the  equa- 
tor is  level,  with  its  eleven  circles  of  latitude  as  horizontal 
lines  ;  and  the  eleven  visible  meridians,  as  portions  of  five 
vertical  ellipses,  with  a  central  vertical  line  between  the 
poles. 

15.  When  the   student   has   completely   mastered    the 
drawing,  and,  if  it  may  be  so  called,  the  literature,  of  this 
elementary  construction,  he  must  advance  another,  and  a 
great  step,  by  drawing  the  globe,  thus  divided,  with  its 
poles   at  any  angle,   and  with  any  degree  of  longitude 
brought  above  the  point  o. 


122  THE   LAWS   OF    FESOLE. 

The  placing  the  poles  at  an  angle  will  at  once  throw  all 
the  circles  of  latitude  into  visible  perspective,  like  the 
meridians,  and  enable  us,  when  it  may  be  desirable,  to 
draw  both  these  and  the  meridians  as  on  a  transparent 
globe,  the  arcs  of  them  being  traceable  in  completeness 
from  one  side  of  the  equator  to  the  other. 

16.  The  second  figure  in  Plate  IX.  represents  the 
globe-lines  placed  so  as  to  make  Jerusalem  the  central 
point  of  its  visible  hemisphere.*  A  map  thus  drawn, 
whether  it  include  the  entire  hemisphere  or  not,  will  in 
future  be  called  '  Polar  '  to  the  place  brought  above  the 
point  o  ;  and  the  maps  which  I  wish  my  students  to  draw 
of  separate  countries  will  always  be  constructed  so  as  to 
be  polar  to  some  approximately  central  point  of  chief  im- 
portance in  those  countries  ;  generally,  if  possible,  to  their 
highest  or  historically  most  important  mountain  ; — other- 
wise, to  their  capital,  or  their  oldest  city,  or  the  like. 
Thus  the  map  of  the  British  Islands  will  be  polar  to 
Scawfell  Pikes,  the  highest  rock  in  England  :  Switzer- 
land will  be  polar  to  Monte  Rosa,  Italy  to  Rome,  and 
Greece  to  Argos. 

IT.  This  transposition  of  the  poles  and  meridians  must 
be  prepared  for  the  young  pupil,  and  for  all  unacquainted 
with  the  elements  of  mathematics,  by  the  master  :  but  the 
class  of  students  for  whom  this  book  is  chiefly  written 
will  be  able,  I  think  without  difficulty,  to  understand  and 
apply  for  themselves  the  following  principles  of  construc- 
tion. 

If  P  and  s,  Figure  20,  be  the  poles  of  the  globe  in  its 
normal  position,  the  line  of  sight  being  in  the  direction  of 

*  The  meridians  in  this  figure  are  given  from  that  of  Fesole,  roughly 
taking  the  long,  of  Jerusalem  35  E.,  from  Greenwich  ;  and  lat.  32  N. 


IX.    OF   MAP   DRAWING. 


1  3 


the  dotted  lines,  tangential  to  the  circle  at  p  and  s  ;  and  if 
we  then,  while  the  line  of  sight  remains  unchanged,  move 
the  pole  P  to  any  point  p,  and  therefore,  (the  centre  of  the 
globe  remaining  fixed  at  o,)  the  pole  s  to  the  opposite  ex- 
tremity of  the  diameter,  s  ;  and  if  A  B  be  the  diameter  of 
any  circle  of  latitude  on  the  globe  thus  moved,  such 
diameter  being  drawn  between  the  highest  and  lowest 
points  of  that  circle  of  latitude  in  its  new  position,  it  is 
evident  that  on  the  hemispherical  surface  of  the  globe 


FIG.  20. 

commanded  by  the  eye,  the  declined  pole  P  will  be  seen 
at  the  level  of  the  line  p  p  ;  the  levels  b  B,  a  A  will  be  the 
upper  and  lower  limits  of  the  perspective  arc  of  the  given 
circle  of  latitude  ;  the  centre  of  that  curve  will  be  at  the 
level  c  c  ;  and  its  lateral  diameter,  however  we  change 
the  inclination  of  its  vertical  one,  will  be  constant.* 

*  Always  remembering  that  the  point  of  sight  is  at  an  infinite  dis- 
tance, else  the  magnitude  of  this  diameter  would  be  affected  by  the 
length  of  the  interval  c  o. 


124 


THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 


18.  On  these  data,  tlie  following  construction  of  a  map 
of  the  hemisphere  to  be  made  polar  to  a  given  place,  will 
be,  I  think,  intelligible, — or,  at  the  very  least,  practica- 
ble ;  which  is  all  that  at  present  we  require  of  it. 

Let  p  and  s,  Figure  21,  be  the  original  poles  ;  let  the 
arc  P  Q  s  be  the  meridian  of  the  place  to  which  the  map  is 
to  be  made  polar  ;  and  let  x  be  the  place  itself.  From  x 
draw  the  diameter  x  Y,  which  represents  a  circle  to  be 
called  the  '  equatorial  line  '  of  the  given  place  ;  and 


which  is  of  course  inclined  to  the  real  equator  at  an  angel 
measured  by  the  latitude  of  the  place. 

Through  the  point  o,  (which  I  need  not  in  future 
letter,  it  being  in  our  figures  always  the  mid-point  be- 
tween Qand  R,  and,  theoretically,  the  centre  of  the  earth,) 
draw  the  line  terminated  by  the  ball  and  arrow-point,  per- 
pendicular to  x  Y.  This  is  to  be  called  the  '  stellar  lino  ' 
of  the  given  place  x.  In  the  map  made  polar  to  x,  this 


IX.    OF    MAP   DRAWING. 


125 


line,  if  represented,  will  coincide  with  the  meridian  of  x, 
but  must  not  be  confused  with  that  meridian  in  the  stu- 
dent's mind. 

19.  Place  now  the  figure  so  as  to  bring  the  stellar  line 
vertical,  indicating  it  well  by  its  arrow-head  and  ball, 
which  on  locally  polar  maps  will  point  north  and  south  for 
the  given  place,  Figure  22. 


FIG.  22. 

The  equatorial  line  of  x,  (x  Y,)  now  becomes  horizontal. 
QK  is  the  real  equator,  p  and  s  the  real  poles,  and  the 
given  place  to  which  the  map  is  to  be  made  polar  is  at  x. 
The  line  of  sight  remains  in  the  direction  of  the  dotted 
lines. 

20.  As  the  student  reads,  let  him  construct  and  draw 
the  figures  himself  carefully.  There  is  not  the  smallest 
hurry  about  the  business,  (and  there  must  be  none  in  any 


126  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

business  he  means  to  be  well  done) ;  all  that  we  want  is 
clear  understanding,  and  fine  drawing.  And  I  multiply 
my  figures,  not  merely  to  make  myself  understood,  but  as 
exercises  in  drawing  to  be  successively  copied.  And  the 
firm  printing  of  the  letters  *  is  a  part  of  this  practice, 
taking  the  place  of  the  more  irksome  exercise  recom- 
mended in  my  first  '  Elements  of  Drawing, '  p.  25.  Be 
careful,  also,  that  they  shall  be  not  only  clear  and  neat, 
but  perfectly  upright.  You  will  draw  palaces  and  towers 
in  truer  stability  after  drawing  letters  uprightly  ;  and  the 
position  of  the  letter, — as,  for  instance,  in  the  two  last 
figures, — is  often  important  in  the  construction  of  the 
diagram. 

21.  Having  fixed  the  relations  of  these  main  lines  well 
in  his  mind,  the  student  is  farther  to  learn  these  two  defi- 
nitions. 

I.  The  l  Equatorial  line  '  of  any  place  is  the  complete 
circle  of  the  circumference  of  the  world  passing  through 
that  place,  in  a  plane  inclined  to  the  plane  of  the  equator 
at  an  angle  measured  by  the  degrees  of  the  latitude  of  the 
place, 

II.  The   '  Stellar  line  '  of  any  place  is  a  line  drawn 
through  the   centre  of   the  Earth  perpendicular   to   the 
equatorial  line  of  that  place.     It  is  therefore,  to  any  such 
equatorial  line  (geometrically)  what  the  axis  of  the  Earth 
is  to  the  equator  ;  and  though  it  does  not  point  to  the 
Polestar,  is  always  in  the  vertical  plane  passing  through 
the  Polestar  and  place  for  which  it  is  drawn,  f 

*  By  a  mistake  of  the  ensrraver,  the  small  letters,  though  all  printed 
by  myself  in.  Roman  form,  have  been  changed,  throughout  the  fig- 
ures in  this  chapter,  into  italics.  But  in  copying  them,  let  them  all  be 
carefully  printed  in  Roman  type. 

f  The  Polestar  is  assumed,  throughout  all  our  work,  to  indicate  the 
true  North. 


IX.    OF   MAP   DRAWING.  127 

22.  It  follows  from  these  definitions  that  if  we  were 
able  to  look  down  on  any  place  from  a  point  vertically 
and  exactly  above  it,  and  its  equatorial  and  stellar  lines 
were  then  visible  to  us,  drawn,  the  one  round  the  Earth, 
and  the  other  through  it,  they  would  both  appear  as  right 
lines,  forming  a  cross,  the  equatorial  line  running,  at  the 
point  of  intersection,  east  and  west  ;  and  the  stellar,  north 
and  south. 

23.  Now  all  the  maps  which  I  hope  to  prepare  for  St. 
George's  schools  will  be  constructed,  not  by  circles  of  lat- 
itude and  meridians,   but  as  squares  of  ten,  twenty,   or 
thirty  degrees    in  the   side,  quartered   into   four   minor 
squares  of  five,  ten,  or  fifteen  degrees  in  the  side,  by  the 
cross  formed  by  the  equatorial  and  stellar  line  of  the  place  to 
which  the  map  is  said  to  be   i  polar  ;  ' — which  place  will 
therefore  be  at  the  centre  of  the  square.     And  since  the 
arc  of  a  degree  on  the  equatorial  line  is  as  long  as  the  arc 
of  a  degree  on  the  equator,  and  since  the  stellar  line  of  a 
place  on  a  polar  map  coincides  with  the  meridian  of  that 
place,  the  measurements  of  distance  along  each  of  the  four 
arms  of  the  cross  will  be  similar,  and  the  enlargements 
of  terrestrial  distance  expressed  by  them,  in  equal  propor- 
tions. 

24.  I  am  obliged  to  introduce  the  terms  "  at  the  point 
of  intersection, "  in  §  22,  because,  beyond  the  exact  point 
of  intersection,  the  equatorial  line  does  not  run  east  and 
west,  in  the  ordinary  geographical  sense.     Note  therefore 
the  following  conditions  separating  this  from  the  usually 
drawn  terrestrial  lines. 

If,  from  the  eastern  and  western  gates  of  a  city,  two 
travellers  set  forth  to  walk,  one  due  east,  and  the  other 
due  west,  they  would  meet  face  to  face  after  they  had 


128  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

walked  each  the  semicircle  of  the  earth-line  in  their  city's 
latitude. 

But  if  from  the  eastern  and  western  gates  they  set  forth 
to  walk  along  their  city's  equatorial  line,  they  would  only 
meet  face  to  face  after  they  had  each  walked  the  full 
semicircle  of  the  Earth's  circumference. 

And  if,  from  the  eastern  and  western  gates  of  their  city, 
they  were  able  to  set  forth,  to  walk  along  the  lines  used  as 
lines  of  measurement  on  its  polar  map,  they  would  meet  no 
more  forever. 

For  these  lines,  though  coinciding,  the  one  with  its 
meridian,  and  the  other  with  its  equatorial  line,  are  con- 
ceived always  as  lines  drawn  in  the  air,  so  as  to  touch  the 
Earth  only  at  the  place  itself,  as  the  threads  of  a  common 
squaring  frame  would  touch  the  surface  of  a  globe  ;  that 
which  coincides  with  the  Stellar  line  being  produced  in- 
finitely in  the  vertical  plane  of  the  Polestar,  and  that 
which  coincides  with  the  equatorial  line  produced  infi- 
nitely at  right  angles  to  it  in  the  direction  of  the  minor 
axis  of  the  Earth's  orbit. 

25.  In  which  orbit,  calling  the  point  of  winter  solstice, 
being  that  nearest  the  Polestar,  the  North  point  of  the 
orbit,  and  that  of  the  summer  solstice  South,  the  point 
of  vernal  equinox  will  be  West,  the  point  of  autumnal 
equinox  East  ;    and  the  polar  map  of  any  place  will  be  in 
general  constructed  and  shaded  with  the  Earth  in'  vernal 
equinox,   and   the  place  at  the  time  of  sunrise  to  it  on 
Easter  Day,  supposing  the  sun  ten  degrees  above  the  hori- 
zon, and  expressing  therefore  the  heights  of  the  moun- 
tain ehains  accurately  by  the  length  of  their  shadows. 

26.  Therefore,  in  now  proceeding  to  draw  our  polar 
map  for  the  given  place  x,  Figure  22,  we  have  to  bring 


IX.    OF   MAP   DKAWING. 


129 


the  two  poles,  and  the  place  itself,  to  the  meridian  which 
coincides,  in  our  circular  construction,  with  the  stellar 
line.  Accordingly,  having  got  our  construction  as  in  Fig 
ure  22,  we  let  fall  perpendiculars  on  the  stellar  line  from 
all  the  four  points  P,  s,  Q,  and  E,  Figure  23,  giving  us 
the  four  points  on  the  stellar  line  p,  s,  q,  and  r. 

Then,  in  our  polar  map,  p  and  s  are  the  new  poles  cor- 
responding to  P  and  s  ;    q  and  r  the  new  points  of  the 


FIG.  23. 

Equator  corresponding  to  Q  and  E  ;  and  the  place  to 
which  the  map  is  polar,  x,  will  now  be  in  the  centre  of 
the  map  at  the  point  usually  lettered  o. 

27.  Now  this  construction  is  entirely  general,  and  the 
two  zigzags,  p  P  s  s  and  r  E  Q  q,  must  always  be  drawn  in 
the  same  way  for  the  poles  and  any  given  circle  of  lati- 
tude, as  well  as  for  the  Equator  ; — only  if  the  more 
lightly-drawn  zigzag  be  for  a  north  or  south  circle  of  lati- 


130 


THE   LAWS  OF   FESOLE. 


tude,  it  will  not  be  symmetrical  on  both  sides  of  the  line 
x  Y.  Therefore,  removing  the  (for  the  moment  unneces- 
sary) line  x  Y  from  the  construction,  and  drawing,  instead 
of  the  Equator  Q  K,  any  circle  of  latitude  L  M, — 1  and  m 
are  the  corresponding  points  of  that  circle  in  our  polar 
map,  and  we  get  the  entirely  general  construction,  Figure 
24,  in  which  the  place  to  which  the  map  is  polar,  being 
now  at  the  centre  of  the  circle,  is  lettered  x,  because  it  is 


FIG.  24 

not  now  the  centre  of  the  earth  between  Q  and  R,  but  the 
point  x,  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  brought  round  to  co- 
incide with  it. 

28.  And  now  I  should  like  the  student  to  fix  the  letters 
attached  to  these  constructions  in  his  mind,  as  belonging, 
not  only  to  their  respective  circles,  but  always  to  the  same 
points  in  these  circles.  Thus  the  letter  x  will  hencefor- 


IX.    OF  MAP  DRAWING.  131 

ward,  after  we  have  once  finished  the  explanatory  con- 
struction in  the  present  chapter,  always  signify  the  point 
to  which  the  map  is  polar,  and  Y  its  exactly  antipodal 
point  on  the  earth's  surface,  half  round  the  equatorial 
line.  If  we  have  to  speak  in  more  detail  of  the  equato- 
rial line  as  a  complete  circle,  it  will  be  lettered  x,  E,  Y,  w, 
the  letters  E  and  w  being  at  its  extreme  eastern  and  western 
points,  in  relation  to  x.  And  since  at  these  points  it  in- 
tersects the  Equator,  the  Equator  will  be  also  lettered  Q, 
E,  K,  w,  the  points  E  and  w  being  identical  in  both  circles, 
and  the  point  Q  always  in  the  meridian  of  x.  Any  circle 
of  latitude  other  than  the  stated  eleven  will  be  lettered  at 
its  quarters,  L,  L  1,  L  2,  L  3,  L  4,  the  point  L  being  that 
on  the  meridian  of  x  ;  and  any  full  meridian  circle  other 
than  one  of  the  stated  twelve  will  be  lettered  M  N,  the 
point  M  being  that  on  the  Equator  nearest  x,  and  N  its 
opposite. 

29.  And  now  note  carefully  that  in  drawing  the  globe, 
or  any  large  part  of  it,  the  meridian  circles  and  latitude 
circles  are  always  to  be  drawn,  with  the  lead,  full  round, 
as  if  the  globe  were  transparent.  It  is  only  thus  that  the 
truth  of  their  delicate  contact  with  the  limiting  circle  can 
be  reached.  Then  the  visible  part  of  the  curve  is  to  be 
traced  with  pencil  and  color,  and  that  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  globe,  and  therefore  invisible,  to  be  either  effaced, 
or  indicated  by  a  dotted  line. 

Thus,  in  Figure  25,  I  complete  the  construction  from 
Figure  23  by  first  producing  the  lines  R  r,  Q  q,  to  meet 
the  circle  on  both  sides,  so  as  to  give  me  a  complete  feel- 
ing of  the  symmetry  of  the  entire  space  within  which  my 
elliptic  curve  must  be  drawn  ;  and  then  draw  it  round  in 
complete  sweep,  as  steadily  as  I  can,  correcting  it  into  a 


132 


THE   LAWS  OF  FESOLE. 


true  ellipse  by  as  much  measurement  as  may  be  needful, 
and  with  the  best  fastidiousness  of  my  sight.  Once  the 
perfect  ellipse  drawn,  the  question,  which  half  of  it  is  vis- 
ible, depends  on  whether  we  intend  the  North  or  South 
pole  to  be  visible.  If  the  North,  the  lower  half  of  the 
ellipse  is  the  perspective  of  the  visible  half  of  the  Equa- 
tor ;  and  if  the  South,  vice  versa,  the  upper  half  of  the 
ellipse. 


FIG.  25. 

30.  But  the  drawing  becomes  more  difficult  and  subtle 
when  we  deal  with  the  perspective  of  a  line  of  latitude, 
as  L  M  (Figure  24).  For  on  completing  this  construction 
in  the  same  manner  as  Figure  23  is  completed  in  Figure 
25,  we  shall  find  the  ellipse  does  not  now  touch  the  cir- 
cle with  its  extremities,  but  with  some  part  of  its  sides. 
In  Figure  26, 1  remove  the  constructing  lines  from  Figure 
24,  and  give  only  the  necessary  limiting  ones,  M  m  and  L 


IX.    OF   MAP   DRAWING. 


133 


1,  produced  :  the  ellipse  being  now  drawn  symmetrically 
between  these,  so  as  to  touch  the  circle,  it  will  be  seen 
that  its  major  axis  falls  beneath  the  point  of  contact,  and 
would  have  to  be  carried  beyond  the  ellipse  if  it  were  to 
meet  the  circle.  On  the  small  scale  of  these  figures,  and 
in  drawing  large  circles  of  latitude,  the  interval  seems  of 
little  importance  ;  yet  on  the  beautiful  drawing  of  it  de- 


FIG.  26. 

pends  the  right  expression  of  all  rounded  things  whose 
surface  is  traversed  by  lines — from  St.  Peter's  dome  to 
an  acorn  cup.  In  Figure  27  I  give  the  segment  of  circle 
from  p  to  Y  as  large  as  my  page  allows,  with  the  semi- 
ellipse  of  the  semicircle  of  latitude  c  M.  The  point  of 
contact  with  the  circle  is  at  z  ;  the  axis  major,  drawn 
through  c,  terminates  at  w,  making  u  w  equal  to  c  M  ; 
and  the  pretty  meeting  of  the  curves  w  z  and  Y  z  h'ke  the 


134 


THE  LAWS  OF  FESOLE. 


top  of  the  rudder  of  a  Venetian  canal  boat  (the  water  be- 
ing at  the  level  x  Y),  becomes  distinctly  visible. 

The  semi-major  axis  u  w  is  exactly  equal  to  c  M,  as  in 
Figure  25  the  entire  major  axis  is  equal  to  L  M  in  Figure 
24. 

31.  Lastly,  if  c  M  cross  the  stellar  line,  as  in  all  figures 
hitherto  given,  the  ellipse  always  touches  the  circle,  and 


FIG.  27. 

the  portion  of  it  beyond  z  is  invisible,  on  the  other  side  of 
the  globe,  when  we  reduce  the  perspective  figure  to  a 
drawing.  But,  as  we  draw  the  circles  of  latitude  smaller, 
the  interval  between  z  and  w  increases,  and  that  between 
z  and  M  diminishes,  until  z  and  M  coincide  on  the  stellar 
line,  and  the  ellipse  touches  the  circle  with  the  extremity 
of  its  minor  axis.  As  M  draws  still  farther  back  towards 
p,  the  ellipse  detaches  itself  from  the  circle,  and  becomes 


IX.   OF   MAP   DRAWING. 


135 


entirely  visible  ;  and  as  we  incline  the  pole  more  and 
more  towards  us,  the  ellipses  rise  gradually  into  sight,  be- 
come rounder  and  rounder  in  their  curves,  and  at  last  pass 
into  five  concentric  circles  encompassed  by  the  Equator 
as  we  look  vertically  down  on  the  pole.  The  construction 
of  the  small  circle  of  latitude  L  M,  when  the  pole  is  de- 
pressed to  P,  is  given  in  Figure  28. 


FIG.  28. 

32.  All  this  sounds  at  first  extremely  dreadful  :  but, 
supposing  the  system  of  the  Laws  of  Fesole  generally  ap- 
proved and  adopted,  every  parish  school  may  soon  be  fur- 
nished with  accurate  and  beautiful  drawings  of  the  di- 
vided sphere  in  various  positions  ;  and  the  scholars  led  on 
gradually  in  the  practice  of  copying  them,  having  always, 
for  comparison,  the  solid  and  engraved  artificial  globe  in 
their  hands.  Once  intelligently  masters  of  this  Earth- 


136 


THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 


perspective,  there  remain  no  more  difficulties  for  them, 
but  those  of  delicate  execution,  in  the  drawing  of 
plates,  or  cups,  or  baskets,  or  crowns,*  or  any  other 
more  or  less  circularly  divided  objects  ;  and  gradually 
they  will  perceive  concurrences  and  cadences  of  mightier 
lines  in  sea-waves,  and  mountain  promontories,  and  arcs 
of  breeze-driven  cloud. 

33.   One  bit  of  hard  work  more,  and  we  have  done  with 


71 


FIG.  29. 

geometry  for  the  present.  We  have  yet  to  learn  how  to 
draw  any  meridian  in  true  perspective,  the  poles  being 
given  in  a  vertical  line.  Let  p  and  s,  Figure  29,  be  the 

*  There  are,  of  course,  other  perspective  laws,  dependent  on  the  ap- 
proach of  the  point  of  sight,  introduced  in  the  drawing  of  ordinary  ob- 
jects ;  but  none  of  these  laws  are  ever  mathematically  carried  out  by 
artists,  nor  can  they  be  :  every  thing  depends  on  the  truth  of  their  eyes 
and  ready  obedience  of  their  fingers.  All  the  mathematicians  in 


IK.   OF   MAP   DRAWING. 


137 


poles,  P  being  the  visible  one.  Then  Q  M  R  N  is  the 
Equator  in  its  perspective  relation  to  them  ;  p,  the  pole 
of  the  stellar  line,  which  line  is  here  coincident  with  the 
meridian  of  the  place  to  which  the  map  is  polar.  It  is 
required  to  draw  another  meridian  at  a  given  number  of 
degrees  distant  from  the  meridian  of  the  place. 

34.   On  the  arc  p  Q,  if  the  required  meridian  is  to  the 
east  of  the  place,  or  on  the  arc  p  R,  if  the  required  meri- 


FIG.  30. 

dian  is  to  the  west  of  it,  measure  an  arc  of  the  given 
number  of  degrees,  p  n.  Let  fall  the  vertical  n  N  on  the 
Equator,  draw  the  diagonal  M  N  through  o  ;  and  the  re- 
quired meridian  will  be  the  visible  arc  of  the  ellipse  drawn, 

France  and  England,  with  any  quantity  of  time  and  every  instrument  in 
their  possession,  could  not  draw  a  tress  of  wreathed  hair  in  perspective  : 
but  Veronese  will  do  it,  to  practical  sufficiency,  with  half  a  dozen  con- 
secutive touches  of  his  pencil. 


138  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

so  as  to  touch  the  circle,  through  the  four  points  p  N  s  M. 
These  four  points,  however  placed,  will  always  be  sym- 
metrical, the  triangles  o  p  N  and  o  M  s,  if  completed,  be- 
ing always  equal  and  similar,  and  the  points  N  and  M  equi- 
distant from  P  and  s.  In  Figure  30,  I  draw  the  curve, 
showing  only  these  points  and  the  stellar  line  ;  and  you 
may,  by  a  little  effort,  imagine  the  figure  to  represent 
two  cups,  or  two  kettle-drums,  brim  to  brim,  or  rim  to 
rim.  If  you  suppose  them  so  placed  that  you  can  see  the 
inside  of  the  cup  on  the  left,  the  north  pole  is  visible,  and 
the  left-hand  half  of  the  ellipse.  If  you  suppose  the  in- 
side of  the  cup  on  the  right  visible,  the  north  pole  is  visi- 
ble, and  the  right-hand  half  of  the  ellipse. 

35.  And  now,  if  you  have  really  read  and  worked  thus 
far,  with  clear  understanding,  I  very  gladly  congratulate 
you  on  having  mastered  quite  the  most  important  ele- 
ments of  perspective  in  curved  surfaces  ;  a  mastership 
which  you  will  find  extremely  pleasurable  in  its  conse- 
quences, whatever  the  difficulty  of  its  attainment.  And 
in  the  meantime  you  will  without  further  trouble  under- 
stand the  construction  of  the  second  figure  in  Plate  IX. , 
which  gives  the  perspective  of  the  globe  on  the  line  of 
sight  polar  to  Jerusalem  ;  assuming  the  longitude  of 
Jerusalem  35°  east,  from  the  meridian  of  Greenwich  ;  but 
engraving  the  St.  George's  order  of  meridians,  with  the 
Devon,  Captains',  Orient,  and  Occident  in  darker  line. 
The  student  may,  with  advantage,  enlarge  this  example  so 
as  to  allow  an  inch  to  the  widest  interval  of  its  meridians, 
and  then  try  for  himself  to  draw  the  map  of  the  hemi- 
sphere accurately  on  this  projection.  If  he  succeed,  he 
will  have  a  true  perspective  view  of  the  globe,  from  the 
given  point  of  sight,  a  very  different  thing  from  a  map  of 


IX.    OF  MAP  DRAWING.  139 

it  given  on  any  ordinary  projection  :  for,  in  the  common 
geographical  methods,  the  countries  and  seas  are  distorted 
into  shapes,  not  only  actually  false,  but  which  under  no 
possible  conditions  they  could  ever  assume  to  the  eye  ; 
while  on  this  rightly  -drawn  projection,  they  appear  as 
they  do  on  the  artificial  globe  itself,  and  cannot  therefore 
involve  the  student  in  any  kind  of  misconception.  Maps, 
properly  so  called,  must  include  much  less  than  the  surface 
of  the  hemisphere  ;  and  the  mode  in  which  they  are  to 
be  drawn  on  this  projection  will  be  given  in  the  eleventh 
chapter. 

36.  It  remains  only  to  be  observed  that  although  in 
English  schools  the  Devon  and  Captains'  line  (meaning, 
the  line  of  the  great  Captains)  are  to  be  taken  for  the 
first  divisions  in  quartering  the  globe,  and  the  Orient  and 
Occident  lines,  for  us  determined  by  them,  the  degrees  of 
longitude  are  to  be  counted  from  Galileo's  line,  the 
meridian  of  Fesole.  For  if  these  laws  of  drawing  are 
ever  accepted,  as  I  trust,  in  other  schools  than  our  own,  it 
seems  to  me  that  their  well- trained  sailors  may,  waiving 
false  pride  and  vulgar  jealousy,  one  day  consent  to  esti- 
mates of  distance  founded,  for  all,  on  the  most  sacred  tra- 
ditions of  the  Norman,  the  Tuscan,  and  the  Argonaut  ; 
founded  for  the  sailors  of  Marseilles  and  Venice— of  Pisa 
and  Amalfi — of  Salamis  and  the  Hellespont, — on  the  eter- 
nal lines  which  pass  through  the  Flint  of  Fesole,  and  the 
Flowers  of  Ida. 


OHAPTEK  X. 

OF    LIGHT    AND    SHADE. 

1.  I  DO  not  doubt  that  you  can  call  into  your  mind 
with  some  distinctness  the  image  of  hawthorn  hlossom  ; — 
whether,  at  this  time  of  reading,  it  he  May  or  November, 
I  should  like  you,  if  possible,  to  look  at  the  description  of 
it  in  Proserpina  (TIL,   p.    142)  ;    but  you  can  certainly 
remember  the  general  look  of  it,  in  white  masses  among 
green  leaves.     And  you  would  never  think,  if  I  put  a 
pencil  into  your  hand,  and  gave  you  choice  of  colors  to 
paint  it  with,  of  painting  any  part  of  it  Hack. 

Your  first  natural  instinct  would  be  to  take  pure  green, 
and  lay  that  for  the  leaves  ;  and  then,  the  brightest  white 
which  you  could  find  on  the  palette,  and  put  that  on  in 
bosses  for  the  buds  and  blossoms. 

2.  And  although  immediate  success  in  representation  of 
hawthorn  might  possibly  not  attend  these  efforts,  that  first 
instinctive  process  would  be  perfectly  right  in  principle. 
The  general  effect  of  hawthorn  is  assuredly  of  masses  of 
white,  laid  among  masses  of  green  :  and  if,  at  the  instiga- 
tion of  any  learned  drawing-master,  you  were  to  paint 
part  of  every  cluster  of  blossoms  coal-black,  you  would 
never  be   able  to   make  the  finished   work   satisfactory 
either  to  yourself,  or  to  other  simple  people,  as  long  as 
the  black  blot  remained  there. 

3.  You  may  perhaps  think  it  unlikely  that  any  draw- 


X.    OF   LIGHT   AND   SHADE. 

ing-master  would  recommend  you  to  paint  hawthorn  blos- 
som half  black.  Kor,  if  instead  of  hawthorn,  you  had 
peach  or  apple  blossom  to  paint,  would  you  expect  such 
recommendation  for  the  better  rendering  of  their  rose- 
color  ?  [Nor,  if  you  had  a  gentian  to  paint,  though  its 
blue  is  dark,  would  you  expect  to  be  told  to  paint  half 
the  petals  black  ? 

If,  then,  you  have  human  flesh  to  paint,  which,  though 
of  much  mingled  and  varied  hue,  is  not,  unless  sunburnt, 
darker  than  peach  blossom  ; — and  of  which  the  ideal,  ac- 
cording to  all  poets,  is  that  it  should  be  white,  tinted  with 
rose  ; — which  also,  in  perfect  health  and  purity,  is  some- 
what translucent,  certainly  much  more  so  than  either 
hawthorn  buds  or  apple  blossom — Would  you  accept  it 
as  a  wise  first  direction  towards  the  rendering  of  this 
more  living  and  varying  color,  to  paint  one  side  of  a  girl's 
face  black  ?  You  certainly  would  not,  unless  you  had 
been  previously  beguiled  into  thinking  it  grand  or  artistic 
to  paint  things  under  '  bold  effects. ' 

And  yet,  you  probably  have  been  beguiled,  before 
now,  into  admiring  Raphael's  Transfiguration,  in  which 
everybody's  faces  and  limbs  are  half  black  ;  and  into  sup- 
posing Rembrandt  a  master  of  chiaroscuro,  because  he  can 
paint  a  vigorous  portrait  with  a  black  dab  under  the  nose  ! 

4.  Both  Raphael  and  Rembrandt  are  masters,  indeed  ; 
but  neither  of  them  masters  of  light  and  shade,  in  treat- 
ment of  which  the  first  is  always  false,  and  the  second 
always  vulgar.  The  only  absolute  masters  of  light  and 
shade  are  those  who  never  make  you  think  of  light  and 
shade,  more  than  [Nature  herself  does. 

It  will  be  twenty  years,  however,  at  least,  before  you 
can  so  much  as  see  the  finer  conditions  of  shadow  in  mas- 


142  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

ters  of  that  calibre.  In  the  meantime,  so  please  you,  we 
will  go  back  to  our  hawthorn  blossom,  which  you  have 
begun  quite  rightly  by  painting  white  altogether  ;  but 
which  remains,  nevertheless,  incomplete  on  those  condi- 
tions. However,  if  its  outline  be  right,  and  it  detaches 
itself  from  the  green  ground  like  a  Florentine  piece  of 
mosaic,  with  absolutely  true  contour  of  clustered  petal, 
and  placing  of  scattered  bud,  you  are  already  a  far  way  on 
the  road  to  all  you  want  of  it. 

5.  What  more  you  exactly  want  is  now  the  question. 
If  the  image  of  the  flower  is  clear  in  your  mind,  you  will 
see  it  to  be  made  up  of  buds,  which  are  white  balls,  like 
pearls  ;  and  flowers,  like  little  flattish  cups,  or  rather  sau- 
cers, each  composed  of  five  hollow  petals. 

How  do  you  know,  by  the  look  of  them,  that  the  balls 
are  convex,  and  the  cups  concave  ?  How  do  you  know, 
farther,  that  the  balls  are  not  quite  round  balls,  but  a  lit- 
tle flat  at  the  top  ?  How  do  you  know  that  the  cups  are 
not  deep,  but,  as  I  said,  flattish,  like  saucers  ? 

You  know,  because  a  certain  quantity  of  very  delicate 
pale  gray  is  so  diffused  over  the  white  as  to  define  to  the 
eye  exactly  the  degree  in  which  its  surfaces  are  bent ; 
and  the  gradations  of  this  gray  are  determined  by  the 
form  of  surface,  just  as  accurately  as  the  outline  is  ;  and 
change  with  the  same  mathematical  precision,  at  every 
point  of  their  course.  So  that,  supposing  the  bud  were 
spherical,  which  it  is  not,  the  gradation  of  shade  would 
show  that  it  was  spherical  ;  and,  flattened  ever  so  little 
though  it  be,  the  shade  becomes  different  in  that  degree, 
and  is  recognized  by  the  eye  as  the  shade  of  a  hawthorn 
blossom,  and  not  of  a  mere  round  globule  or  bead. 

6.  But,  for  globule,  globe,  or  grain,  small  or  great, — as 


APPELLAVITQUE   LUCEM   DIEM  ETTENEBRAS  NOCTERN. 
Schools  of  St.  George.     Elementary  Drawing.     Plate  X. 


X.   OF   LIGHT   AND   SHADE.  143 

the  first  laws  of  line  may  best  he  learned  in  the  lines  of 
the  Earth,  so  also  the  first  laws  of  light  may  best  be  learn- 
ed in  the  light  of  the  Earth.  Not  the  hawthorn  blossom, 
nor  the  pearl,  nor  the  grain  of  mustard  or  manna, — not  the 
smallest  round  thing  that  lies  as  the  hoar-frost  on  the 
ground — but  around  it,  and  upon  it,  are  illuminated  the 
laws  that  bade  the  Evening  and  the  Morning  be  the  first 
day. 

7.  So  much  of  those  laws  you  probably,  in  this  learned 
century,  know  already,  as  that  the  heat  and  light  of  the 
sun  are  both  in  a  fixed  proportion  to  the  steepness  of  his 
rays, — that  they  decline  as  the  day,  and  as  the  summer 
declines  ;  passing  softly  into  the  shadows  of  the  Polar, — 
swiftly  into  those  of  the  Tropic  night. 

But  you  probably  have  never  .enough  fastened  in  your 
minds  the  fact  that,  whatever  the  position  of  the  sun,  and 
whatever  the  rate  of  motion  of  any^  point  on  the  earth 
through  the  minutes,  hours,  or  days  of  twilight,  the  meet- 
ing of  the  margins  of  night  and  day  is  always  constant  in 
the  breadth  of  its  zone  of  gradually  expiring  light  ;  and 
that  in  relation  to  the  whole  mass  of  the  globe,  that  pas- 
sage from  '  glow  to  gloom  '  is  as  trenchant  and  swift  as 
between  the  crescent  of  the  new  moon  and  the  dimness  of 
the  "  Auld  mune  in  her  airms." 

8.  The  dimness,  I  say,  observe  ; — not  the  blackness. 
Against  the  depth  of  the  night — itself  (as  we  see  it)  not 
absolute  blackness, — the  obscured  space  of  the  lunar  ball 
still  is  relieved  in  pallor,  lighted  to  that  dim  degree  by 
the  reflection  from  the  Earth.     Much  more,  in  all  the 
forms  which  you  will  have  to  study  in  daylight,  the  dark 
side  is  relieved  or  effaced,  by  variously  diffused  and  re- 
flected rays.     But  the  first  thing  you  have  to  learn  and 


144  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

remember,  respecting  all  objects  whatever  to  be  drawn  in 
light  and  shade,  is  that,  by  natural  light  of  day,  half  of 
them  is  in  light,  and  half  in  shadow  ;  and  the  beginning 
of  all  light  and  shade  drawing  is  in  the  true,  stern,  and 
perfect  separation  of  these  from  each  other. 

9.  Where  you  stand,  and  therefore  whence  you  see  the 
object  to  be  drawn,  is  a  quite  separate  matter  of  inquiry. 
As  you  choose,  you  may  determine  how  much  you  will 
see  of  its  dark  and  how  much  of  its  light  side  :  but  the 
first  thing  to  be  made  sure  of  is  the  positive  extent  of 
these  two  great  masses  :  and  the  mode  in  which  they  are 
involved  or  invaded  at  their  edges. 

And  in  determining  this  at  first,  you  are  to  cast  entirely 
out  of  consideration  all  vestige  or  interference  of  modify- 
ing reflective  light.  The  arts,  and  the  morality  of  men, 
are  founded  on  the  same  primal  order  ;  you  are  not  to 
ask,  in  morals,  what  is  less  right  and  more,  or  less  wrong 
and  more,  until  in  every  matter  you  have  learned  to  rec- 
ognize what  is  massively  and  totally  Right,  from  what  is 
massively  and  totally  Wrong.  The  beautiful  enhance- 
ments of  passion  in  virtue,  and  the  subtle  redemptions  of 
repentance  in  sin,  are  only  to  be  sought,  or  taken  account 
of,  afterwards.  And  as  the  strength  and  facility  of  hu- 
man action  are  undermined  alike  by  the  ardor  of  pride 
and  the  cunning  of  exculpation,  the  work  of  the  feeblest 
artists  may  be  known  by  the  vulgar  glittering  of  its  light, 
and  the  far-sought  reflection  in  its  shadow. 

10»  When  the  great  separation  between  light  and  dark 
has  been  thus  determined,  the  entire  attention  of  the  stu-' 
dent  is  to  be  first  put  on  the  gradation  of  the  luminous 
surface. 

It  is  only  on  that  surface  that  the  form  of  the  object  is 


X.   OF   LIGHT  AND  SHADE.  145 

exactly  or  consistently  shown  ;  and  the  just  distribution 
of  the  light,  on  that  alone,  will  be  enough  to  characterize 
the  subject,  even  if  the  shadow  be  left  wholly  untouched. 
The  most  perfectly  disciplined  and  scientific  drawings  of 
the  Tuscan  school  consist  of  pure  outlines  on  tinted 
paper,  with  the  lights  laid  on  in  gradated  white,  and  the 
darks  left  undistinguished  from  the  ground.  The  group 
of  drawings  by  Turner  to  which,  in  the  schools  of  Ox- 
ford, i  have  given  the  title  of  the  '  Nine  Muses,'  con- 
sists, in  like  manner,  of  firm  pencil  outline  on  pale  gray 
paper  ;  the  expression  of  form  being  entirely  trusted  to 
lights  gradated  with  the  most  subtle  cure. 

11.  But  in  elementary  work,  the  definition  of  the  dark 
side  of  the  object  against  the  background  is  to  be  insisted 
upon,  no  less  than  the  rising  of  the  light  side  of  the  ob- 
ject out  of  shadow.     For,  by  this  law,  accuracy  in  the 
outline  on  both  sides  will  be  required,  and  every  tendency 
to   mystification  repressed  ;    whereas,  if   once  we  allow 
dark  backgrounds  to  set  off  luminous  masses,  the  errors  of 
the  outline  in  the  shadow  may  be  concealed  by  a  little 
graceful  manipulation  ;  and  the  drawing  made  to  bear  so 
much  resemblance  in  manner  to  a  master's  work,  that  the 
student  is  only  too  likely  to  flatter  himself,  and  be  praised 
by  others,  for  what  is  merely  the  dissimulation  of  weak- 
ness, or  the  disguise  of  error. 

12.  Farther  :  it  is  of  extreme  importance  that  no  time 
should  be  lost  by  the  beginner  in  imitating  the  qualities 
of  shade  attained  by  great  masters,  before  he  has  learned 
where   shadow   of  any  quality  is  to   be   disposed,  or   in 
what    proportion    it   is   to   be    laid.       Yet   more,    it   is 
essential  that  his  eye  should  not    be    satisfied,    nor   his 
work  facilitated,  by  the  more  or  less  pleasant  qualities  of 


146  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

sliade  in  chalk  or  charcoal :  he  should  be  at  once  com- 
pelled to  practise  in  the  media  with  which  he  must  ulti- 
mately produce  the  true  effects  of  light  and  shade  in  the 
noblest  painting, — media  admitting  no  tricks  of  texture, 
lustre,  or  transparency.  Even  sepia  is  open  to  some 
temptation  of  this  kind,  and  is  to  be  therefore  reserved 
for  the  days  when  the  young  workman  may  pretend  to 
copy  Turner  or  Holbein.  For  the  beginner,  pure  and 
plain  lampblack  is  the  safest,  as  the  most  sincere,  of  mate- 
rials. 

It  has  the  farther  advantage  of  being  extremely  diffi- 
cult to  manage  in  a  wash  ;  so  that,  practising  first  in  this 
medium,  you  will  have  no  difficulty  with  more  tractable 
colors. 

13.  In  order  not  to  waste  paper,  color,  nor  time,  you 
must  be  deliberate  and  neat  in  all  proceedings  :  and  above 
all,  you  must  have  good  paper  and  good  pencils.  Three 
of  properly  varied  size  are  supplied  in  your  box  ;  to  these 
you  must  add  a  commoner  one  of  the  size  of  the  largest, 
which  you  are  to  keep  separate,  merely  for  mixing  and 
supplying  color. 

Take  a  piece  of  thick  and  smooth  paper  ;  and  outline 
on  it  accurately  a  space  ten  inches  high  by  five  wide, 
and,  cutting  it  off  so  as  to  leave  some  half  inch  of  margin 
all  round,  arrange  it,  the  narrow  side  up,  on  a  book  or 
desk  sloping  at  an  angle  of  not  less,  nor  much  more,  than 
25°. 

Put  two  small  teacup-saucers  ;  and  your  two  pencils — 
one  for  supply,  and  one  to  draw  with  ;  a  glass  of  water, 
your  ivory  palette-knife,  and  a  teaspoon,  comfortably  be- 
side you,  and  don't  have  any  thing  else  on  the  table. 

Being  forced  to  content  ourselves,  for  the  present,  with 


(( 


X.    OF   LIGHT  AND   SHADE.  '  147 

tube  colors,  I  must  ask  you  to  be  very  careful  and  neat 
in  their  use.  The  aperture,  in  tubes  of  the  size  you  are 
supplied  with,  is  about  the  eighth  of  an  inch  wide,  and 
with  the  slightest  pressure  (to  be  applied,  remember, 
always  at  the  bottom  of  the  tube,  not  the  sides),  you  will 
push  out  a  little  boss  or  round  tower  of  color,  which 
ought  not  to  be  more  than  the  eighth  of  an  inch,  or  its 
own  width,  above  the  top  of  the  tube.  Do  not  rub  this 
on  the  saucer,  but  take  it  neatly  off  with  the  edge  of 
your  knife,  and  so  put  it  in  the  saucer  ;  and  screw  the 
top  of  your  tube  nicely  on  again,  and  put  it  back  in  its 
place. 

Now  put  two  teaspoonfuls  of  water  into  one  baucer, 
and  stir  the  color  well  into  it  with  your  supply  pencil. 
Then  put  the  same  quantity  of  pure  water  into  the  other 
saucer,  and  you  are  ready  to  begin. 

14.  Take  first  a  pencilful  of  quite  pure  water,  and  lead 
it  along  the  top  of  your  five-inch  space,  leaving  a  little 
ridge  of  water  all  the  way.  Then,  from  your  supply 
saucer,  put  a  pencilful  of  the  mixed  color  into  the  pure 
water  ;  stir  that  up  well  with  your  pencil,  and  lead  the 
ridge  of  pure  water  down  with  that  delicatest  tint,  about 
half  an  inch,  leaving  another  ridge  all  along.  Then  an- 
other pencilful  from  the  supply  saucer  into  the  other, 
mixed  always  thoroughly,  for  the  next  half  inch.  Do  not 
put  the  supply  pencil  into  the  diluted  tint,  but  empty  it 
by  pressing  on  the  side  of  the  saucer,  so  that  you  may  not 
dilute  the  supply  tint,  which  you  are  to  keep,  through  the 
course  of  each  wash,  quite  evenly  mixed.  With  twenty, 
or  one  or  two  less  than  twenty,  replenishing,  and  there- 
fore darkenings,  of  the  tint  you  are  painting  with,  you 
will  reach  the  bottom  of  the  ten -inch  space  ;  which  ought 


148  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

then  already  to  present  a  quite  visible   gradation  from 
white  to  a  very  pale  gray. 

15.  Leaving  this  to  dry  thoroughly,  pour  the  diluted 
tint  you  have  been  painting  with  away  ;    wash  out  the 
saucer  ;    put  in  another  supply  of  clear  water  ;  and  you 
are  ready  to  lay  the  second  coat.     The  process  being  en- 
tirely mechanical,  you  can  read,  or  do  any  thing  else  you 
like,  while  the  successive  coats  are  drying  ;  and  each  will 
take  longer  than  the  last.     But  don't .  go  on  with  other 
drawings,  unless  indeed  you  like  to  tint  two  pieces   of 
paper  at  once,  and  so  waste  less  color — using  the  diluted 
tint  of  the  first  for  the  supply  tint  of  the  second,  and  so 
gaining  a  still  more  delicate  gradation.      And  whether 
you  do  this  or  not,  at  every  third  coat  pour  the  diluted 
tint  back  into  the  supply  one,  which  will  else  be  too  soon 
exhausted.     By  the  time  you  have  laid  on  ten  or  twelve 
tints,  you  will  begin  to  see  such  faults  and  unevenness  as 
may  at  first  be  inevitable  ;  but  also  you  will  begin  to  feel 
what  is  meant  by  gradation,  and  to  what  extent  the  deli- 
cacy of  it  may  be  carried.     Proceed  with  the  work,  how- 
ever, until  the  color  is  so  far  diluted  as  to  be  ineffective  ; 
and  do  not  rest  satisfied  till  you  are  familiar  enough  with 
this  process  to  secure  a  gradated  tint  of  even  and  pleasant 
tone.     As  you  feel  more  command  of  the  pencil,  you  may 
use  less  water  with  the  color,  and  at  last  get  your  result 
in  three  or  four  instead  of  twenty  washes. 

16.  Next,  divide  the  entire  space  into  two  equal  squares, 
by  a  delicate  lead  line  across  it,  placing  it  upright  in  the 
same  manner  ;  and  begin  your  gradation  with  the  same 
care,  but  replenishing  the  tint  in  the  pure  water  from  the 
dark  tint  in  as  narrow  spaces  as  you  can,  till  you  get  down 
the  uppermost  square.     As  soon  as  you  pass  the  dividing 


X.    OF   LIGHT   AND   SHADE.  149 

line  between  the  two  squares,  continue  with  the  same  tint, 
without  darkening  it,  to  the  bottom,  so  that  the  lower 
square  may  be  all  of  one  tone.  Repeating  this  operation 
three  or  four  times,  you  will  have  the  entire  space  divided 
into  two  equal  portions,  of  which  the  upper  one  will  be 
gradated  from  white  into  a  delicate  gray,  and  the  lower 
covered  with  a  consistent  shade  of  that  gray  in  its  ultimate 
strength.  This  is  to  be  your  standard  for  the  first  shading 
of  all  white  objects  ;  their  dark  sides  being  of  an  uniform 
tint  of  delicate  gray,  and  their  light  sides  modelled  in 
tones  which  are  always  paler  in  comparison  with  it. 

17.  Having    practised    in  this   cautious   manner  long 
enough  to  obtain  some  ease  in  distribution  of  the  tint,  and 
some  feeling  of  the  delicacy  of  a  true  gradation,  you  may 
proceed  to  the  more  difficult,  but  wonderfully  useful  and 
comprehensive    exercise,    necessary  for  the   copying  of 
Plate  X. 

Draw  first,  with  pencil-compasses,  the  two  circles  with 
inch  radius,  and  in  the  lower  one  trace  lightly  the  limit 
of  its  crescent  of  shade,  on  the  22nd  meridian,  considering 
the  vertical  meridian  that  of  Fesole.  Then  mix  your  tint 
of  black  with  two  teaspoonfuls  of  water,  very  thoroughly, 
and  with  that  tint  wash  in  at  once  the  whole  background 
and  shaded  spaces.  You  need  not  care  for  precision  on 
their  inner  edges,  but  the  tint  must  be  exactly  brought  up 
to  the  circumference  of  the  circles  on  their  light  sides. 

18.  After  'the  tint  is  thoroughly  dry,  begin  with  the 
circle  divided  in  half,  and  taking  a  very  little  pure  water 
to  begin  with,  and  adding,  with  a  fine  pencil,  a  little  of 
the  dark  tint  as  you  work  down,  (putting  the  light  part 
upwards  on  your  desk,)  gradate,  as  you  best  can,  to  the 
shadow  edge,  over  which  you  are  to  carry  whatever  tint 


150  THE  LAWS  OF  FlSSOLE. 

you  Lave  then  in  your  pencil,  flat  and  unchanged,  to  the 
other  side  of  the  circle,  darkening  equally  the  entire  dark 
side. 

In  the  lower  circle,  the  point  of  highest  light  is  at  the 
equator,  on  the  4th  meridian.  The  two  balls  therefore, 
as  shaded  in  the  plate,  represent  two  views  of  the  revolv- 
ing earth,  with  the  sun  over  the  equator.  The  lower  fig- 
ure gives  what  is  also  the  light  and  shade  of  the  moon  in 
her  third  quarter.  I  do  not  choose  to  represent  the  part 
of  the  earth  under  the  night  as  black  :  the  student  may 
suppose  it  to  be  in  full  moonlight  if  he  likes  ;  but  the  use 
of  the  figure  is  mainly  to  show  the  real,  and  narrow,  extent 
of  resources  at  his  disposal,  in  a  light  and  shade  drawing 
executed  without  accidental  reflected  lights,  and  under  no 
vulgar  force  of  shadow.  With  no  greater  depths  of  tint 
than  those  here  given,  he  must  hold  it  his  skill  to  ren- 
der every  character  of  contour  in  beautiful  forms  ;  and 
teach  himself  to  be  more  interested  in  them,  as  displayed 
by  that  primal  sincerity  of  light,  than  when  seen  under 
any  accidental  effects,  or  violent  contrasts. 

19.  The  tint  prepared  with  two  teaspoonfuls  of  water, 
though  quite  as  dark  as  the  student  will  be  able  at  first  to 
manage,  (or  as  any  master  can  manage  in  complex  masses,) 
will  not,  when  dry,  give  shadow  more  than  half  the  depth 
of  that  used  for  the  background  in  the  plate.  It  must 
therefore  be  twice  laid  ;  the  skill  of  the  pencil  manage- 
ment will  be  tested  by  the  consistency  of  the  two  out- 
lines. At  the  best,  they  are  sure  to  need  a  little  retouch- 
ing ;  and  where  accurately  coincident,  their  line  will  be 
hard,  and  never  so  pleasant  as  that  left  at  the  edge  of  a 
first  wash.  I  wish  the  student  especially  to  notice  this, 
for  in  actual  drawing,  it  is  a  matter  of  absolute  necessity 


X.   OF  LIGHT  AND  SHADE.  151 

never  to  reduplicate  a  wash  at  the  same  edge.  All  beau- 
tiful execution  depends  *on  giving  the  outline  truly  with 
the  first  tint  laid  as  dark  as  it  is  required.  This  is  always 
possible  with  well-prepared  colors  in  a  master's  hand  ; 
yet  never  without  so  much  haste  as  must,  unless  the  mas- 
tery be  indeed  consummate,  leave  something  to  be  for- 
given, of  inaccuracy,  or  something  to  be  grateful  for,  in 
the  rewarding  chance  which  always  favors  a  lightness  in 
method.  The  most  distinctive  charm  of  water-color  ^  as 
opposed  to  oil,  is  in  the  visible  merit  of  this  hasty  skill, 
and  the  entertaining  concurrence  of  accidental  felicity. 
In  the  more  deliberate  laying  of  oil-color,  though  Fortune 
always  takes  her  due  share,  it  is  not  recognizable  by  the 
spectator,  and  is  held  to  the  utmost  in  control  by  the 
resolution  of  the  workman,  when  his  mind  is  wise,  and  his 
piece  complete. 

20.  But  the  student  must  not  be  discouraged  by  the 
difficulty  he  will  find  at  first  in  reaching  any  thing  like 
evenness  or  serenity  of  effect  in  such  studies.     Neither 
these,   nor  any  other  of  the  exercises  in  this  book,  are 
'  elementary, '  in  the  sense  of  easy  or  initial  ;  but  as  in- 
volving the  first  elements  of  all  graphic  Law.     And  this 
first  study  of  light  and  shade  in  Plate  X.  does  indeed  in- 
volve one  law  of  quite  final  importance  ;  but  which  may 
nevertheless  be  simply  expressed,  as  most  essential  mat- 
ters may  be,  by  people  who  wish  it. 

21.  The  gradation  which  you  have  produced  on  your 
first  ten-inch  space  is,  if  successful,  consistent  in  its  in- 
crease of  depth,  from  top  to  bottom.     But  you  may  see 
that  in  Plate  X.  the  light  -is  diffused  widely  and  brightly 
round  the  foci,  and  fades  with  accelerated  diminution  to- 
wards the  limit  of  darkness.     By  examining  the  law  under 


152 


THE   LAWS   OF   FlSSOLE. 


which  this  decrease  of  light  takes  place  on  a  spherical  (or 
cylindrical*)  surface,  we  may  deduce  a  general  law,  regu- 
lating the  light  in  impact  on  any  curved  surface  whatever. 

In  all  analysis  of  curved  lines  it  is  necessary  first  to  re- 
gard them  as  made  up  of  a  series  of  right  lines,  afterwards 
considering  these  right  lines  as  infinitely  short. 

22.  Let  therefore  the  line  A  B,  Figure  31,  represent  any 
plane  surface,  or  an  infinitely  small  portion  of  any  curved 


surface,  on  which  the  light,  coming  in  the  direction  of  the 
arrows,  strikes  at  a  given  angle  BAG. 

Draw  from  B,  B  p  perpendicular  to  A  c,  and  make  B  P 
equal  to  A  B. 

Then  the  quantity  of  Kght,  or  number  of  rays  of  light, 
supposing  each  arrow  to  represent  a  ray,  which  the  so  in- 
clined surface  A  B  can  receive,  is  to  the  quantity  it  could 


*  In  the  upper  figure,  the  actual  gradation  is  the  same  as  that  which 
would  be  true  for  a  cylinder. 


X.    OF   LIGHT   AND   SHADE. 


153 


receive  if  it  were  perpendicular  to  the  light,  (at  p  B,)  as 
the  line  B  o  is  to  the  line  P  B,  which  is  equal  to  the  line 
A  B. 

Therefore  if  we  divide  the  line  A  B,  from  A  to  B,  into 
any  number  of  degrees,  representing  the  gradual  diminu- 
tion of  light,  uniformly,  from  any  given  maximum  at  A 
to  any  given  minimum  at  B,  and  draw  the  circle  c  T  with 
the  radius  B  c,  cutting  A  B  in  T,  the  point  T,  on  the  scale 


FIG.  32. 

of  shade  so  gradated,  will  mark  the  proper  tint  of  shade 
for  the  entire  surface  A  B. 

This  general  law,  therefore,  determines  the  tint  of 
shade,  in  any  given  scale  of  shade,  for  the  point  of  any 
curved  surface  to  which  the  line  A  B  is  a  tangent. 

23.  Applying  this  general  law  to  the  light  and  shade  of 
a  sphere,  let  the  light,  coming  in  the  direction  L  v,  Fig- 
ure 32,  strike  the  surface  of  the  quadrant  p  A  at  the  point 
v,  to  which  the  line  x  y  is  a  tangent.  B  being  the  centre 


154:  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

of  the  sphere,  join  B  v,  and  from  A  draw  A  c  parallel  to 
x  y,  and  therefore  perpendicular  to  B  v.  Produce  L  v 
to  M,  and  draw  the  arc  of  circle  c  T,  cutting  A  B  in  T. 

Then,  by  the  law  last  enunciated,  if  we  divide  the  line 
A  B  uniformly  into  any  number  of  degrees  of  shade  from 
the  maximum  of  light  at  A  to  its  minimum  at  B,  the  point 
T  will  indicate,  on  that  scale,  the  proper  shade  for  the 
point  of  sphere-surface,  v.  And  because  B  v  equals  B  A, 
and  the  angle  B  v  M  equals  the  angle  ABC,  .  *.  M  v  equals 
B  T  ;  and  the  degree  of  shade  may  at  once  be  indicated  for 
any  point  on  the  surface  A  p  by  letting  fall  a  vertical  from 
it  on  the  uniformly  gradated  scale  A  B. 

24.  Dividing  that  scale  into  ninety  degrees  from  A  to 
B,  we  find  that,  on  the  globe,  when  the  sun  is  over  the 
equator,  the  Christian  circle,  though  in  60  degrees  north 
latitude,  receives  yet  45  degrees  of  light,  or  half  the  quan- 
tity of  the  equatorial  light,  and  that,  approximately,* 
the  losses  of  the  strength  of  light  in  the  climates  of  the 
five  circles  are, — 

St.  James's,  3  degrees  loss,  leaving  87  of  light. 
Arabian,  12  degrees  loss,  leaving  78  of  light. 
Venetian,  26  degrees  loss,  leaving  64  of  light. 
Christian,  45  degrees  loss,  leaving  45  of  light. 
Fern,  67  degrees  loss,  leaving  23  of  light. 

But  it  is  always  to  be  remembered  that  in  the  real  pass- 
ing of  day  into  night,  the  transition  from  the  final  de- 
gree of  shadow  on  the  gradated  curvature  of  the  illumi- 

*  Calculated  to  two  places  of  decimals  by  Mr.  Macdonald,  the  Master 
of  my  Oxford  schools,  the  fractional  values  are  3.07,  12.06,  26.36,  and 
66.71,  giving  the  regulated  diminishing  intervals  8.99,  4.30,  18.64, 
21.71,  and  23.29,  or,  roughly,  9,  14,  18,  21,  23. 


X.    OF    LIGHT   AND   SHADE.  155 

nated  hemisphere,  to  night  itself,  is  a  much  greater  one 
than  it  is  our  power  to  express  by  any  scale  :  so  that  our 
90  measured  degrees  do  not  carry  us  even  into  twilight, 
but  only  to  the  point  and  moment  of  sunset.  They  ex- 
press, however,  with  approximate  accuracy,  the  relation 
of  the  terrestrial  climate  so  far  as  it  depends  on  solar  in- 
fluences only,  and  the  consequently  relative  power  of 
light  on  vegetation  and  animal  life,  taking  the  single 
numerical  expression  as  a  mean  for  the  balanced  effect  of 
summer  and  winter.* 

25.  Without  encumbering  himself,  in  practice,  by  any 
attempts  to  apply  this,  or  any  similar  geometric  formulae, 
during  the  progress  of  his  work,  (in  which  the  eye,  mem- 
ory, and  imagination  are  to  be  his  first,  and  final,  instru- 
ments,) the  student  is  yet  to  test  his  results  severely  by 
the  absolute  decrees  of  natural  law  ;  and  however  these 
may  be  prudently  relaxed  in  compliance  with  the  narrow- 
ness of  his  means,  or  concession  to  the  feebleness  of  his 
powers,  he  is  always  to  remember  that  there  is  indeed  a 
right,  and  a  wrong,  attendant  on  the  purpose  and  act  of 
every  touch,  firm  as  the  pillars  of  the  e^frth,  measured  as 
the  flight  of  its  hours,  and  lovely  as  the  moral  law,  from 
which  one  jot  or  tittle  shall  not  pass,  till  all  be  fulfilled. 

26.  Together  with  these  delicate  exercises  in   neutral 
tint,  the  student  cannot  too  early  begin  practice  in  laying 
frank  and  full  touches  of  every  zodiacal  color,   within 
stated  limits.     He  may  advisably  first    provide  himself 
with  examples  of  the  effects  of  opposition  in  color,  by 

*  The  difference  in  effective  heat  between  rays  falling  at  large  or 
small  angles,  cannot  be  introduced  in  this  first  step  of  analysis  :  still  less 
is  it  necessary  to  embarrass  the  young  student  by  any  attempt  to  gen- 
eralize the  courses  of  the  isothermal  lines. 


15f?  THE    LAWS  OF   F^SOLE. 

drawing  the  square  of  the  Fern  line,  measured  on  his 
twelve-inch  globe,  within  the  square  of  the  Venetian 
line  ;  then  filling  the  interior  square  with  any  one  of  the 
zodiacal  colors,  and  the  enclosing  space  between  it  and  the 
larger  square,  with  the  opponent  color  :  trying  also  the 
effect  of  opposition  between  dark  tints  of  one  color  and 
light  tints  of  the  other  :  each  wash  to  be  laid  on  at  once, 
and  resolutely  left  without  retouching.  The  student  will 
thus  gradually  gain  considerable  power  of  manipulating 
the  pencil,  with  full  color  ;  recognize  more  clearly  day  by 
day  how  much  he  has  to  gain  ;  and  arrive  at  many  inter- 
esting conclusions  as  to  the  value  and  reciprocal  power  of 
opposed  hues. 

27.  All  these  exercises  must,  however,  be  kept  in  sub- 
ordination to  earnest  and  uninterrupted  practice  with  the 
pen-point  or  the  lead  ;  of  which  I  give  two  more  exam- 
ples in  the  present  number  of  Fesole,  which,  with  those 
already  set  before  the  student,  Plates  V. ,  VI. ,  and  VIII. , 
will  form  a  quite  sufficient  code  for  his  guidance  until  I 
can  begin  the  second  volume.* 

28.  Plate  Xft  represents,  as  far  as  mezzotint  easily  can, 
a  drawing  of  the  plan  and  profile  of  a  leaf  of  wild  gera- 
nium, made  lightly  with  the  lead,  and  secured  by  a  single 
washed  tint  above  it. 

Every  care  is  to  be  given  in  study  of  this  kind  to  get 
the  outline  as  right  and  as  refined  as  possible.  Both  shade 
and  color  are  to  be  held  entirely  subordinate  ;  yet  shade  is 
to  be  easily  and  swiftly  added,  in  its  proper  place,  and 
any  peculiar  local  color  may  be  indicated,  by  way  of  mem- 
orandum, in  the  guarding  tint,  without  attempting  the 
effect  of  a  colored  drawing.  Neither  is  any  finish  or 

*  During  the  spring  I  must  confine  my  work  wholly  to  Proserpina. 


'UDY    WITH   THE    LEAD   AND  SINGLE  TINT.     LEAFOF  HERB-ROBERT. 
Schools  of  St.  George.     Elementary  Drawing.     Plate  XI. 


X.   OF   LIGHT  AND  SHADE.  157 

depth  to  be  sought  in  the  shade.  It  should  rightly  indi- 
cate the  surges  or  troughs  of  the  leaf,  and  the  course  and 
projection  of  large  ribs,  (when  the  plan  drawing  is  made 
of  the  under  surface,)  but  it  must  not  be  laboriously  com- 
pleted or  pursued.  No  study  of  this  kind  should  ever 
take  more  than  an  hour  for  plan  and  profile  both  :  but 
the  outline  should  be  accurate  to  the  utmost  of  the  stu- 
dent's power,  and  as  delicate  as  the  lead  will  draw. 

29.  Although,  in  beginning,  precise  measurements  are 
to  be  taken  of  the  leaf's  length  and  breadth,  yet  the  mis- 
takes inevitable  during  execution  cannot  be  easily  cor- 
rected without  some  variation  in  the  size  ;  it  is  far  better 
to  lose  the  exact  measurement  than  the  feeling  of  the 
form.     Thus  my  profile  is  nearly  a  quarter  of  an  inch  too 
long  for  the  plan,  because  I  could  not  get  the  spring  of  it 
to  my  mind  in  its  first  proportion.     The  plan  may  gen- 
erally be  kept  to  its  true  scale  ;  and  at  all  events  the 
measures  should  be  marked  for  reference  within   their 
proper  geometrical  limits,   as  in  the  upper  outline,    of 
which  I  have  more  to  say  in  another  place. 

30.  Plate    XII.  gives  example    of    an    equally  rapid 
mode  of  study  when  the  object  is  essentially  light  and 
shade.     Here  the  ground  is  a  deeply  toned  gray  paper  ; 
the  outline  is  made  with  stern  decision,  but  without  care 
for  subtlety  in  minor  points  ;  some  gradations  of  shade 
are  rapidly  added  with  the  lead, — (BB)  ;    and  finally,  the 
high  lights,  laid  on  with  extreme  care  with  body-white. 
Theoretically,  the  outline,  in  such  a  study  as  this,  should 
always  be  done  first  :    but  practically,  I  find  it  needful, 
with  such  imperfect  skill  as  I  have,  to  scrabble  in  the 
pencil  shadows  for  some  guide  to  the  places  of  the  lights  ; 
and  then  fasten  every  thing  down  firmly  with  the  pen  out 


158  THE   LAWS   OF 

line.  Then  I  complete  the  shadow  as  far  as  needful  ; 
clear  the  lights  with  bread  first  ;  and  then,  which  is  the 
gist  of  the  whole,  lay  the  high  lights  with  carefullest  dis- 
cipline of  their  relations. 

Mr.  Allen's  very  skilful  mezzotint  ground  is  more  ten- 
der and  united  than  the  pencil  shadow  was,  in  this  case  ; 
or  usually  need  be  :  but  the  more  soft  it  is  the  better  ; 
only  let  no  time  be  lost  upon  it. 

31.  Plate  VIII. ,  given  in  the  last  number  of  Fesole, 
for  illustration  of  other  matters,  represents  also  the  com- 
plete methods  of  wholesome  study  with  the  pen  and  sepia, 
for  advanced  rendering  both  of  form  and  chiaroscuro. 

Perfect  form  never  can  be  given  but  with  color  (see 
above,  Chapter  VIII.  §  22).  But  the  foundational  ele- 
ments of  it  may  be  given  in  a  very  impressive  and  useful 
way  by  the  pen,  with  any  washed  tint.  In  the  upper 
study  the  pen  only  is  used  ;  and  when  the  forms  are  com- 
plete, no  more  should  be  attempted  ;  for  none  but  a  great 
master  can  rapidly  secure  fine  form  with  a  tint.  But 
with  the  pen,  thus  used,  much  may  be  reached  by  the 
student  in  very  early  stages  of  his  progress. 

32.  Observe  that  in  work  of  this  kind,  you  are  not  to 
be  careful  about  the  direction  or  separation  of  the  lines  ; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  you  are  not  to  slur,  scrabble,  or 
endeavor  to  reach  the  mysterious  qualities  of  an  etching. 
Use  an  ordinarily  fine  pen-point,  well  kept  down  •  and  let 
the  gradations  be  got  by  the  nearness  or  separation,  single- 
ness or  crossing  of  the  lines,  but  not  by  any  faintness  in 
them. 

But  if  the  forms  be  simple,  and  there  be  a  variety  of 
local  colors  which  is  important  in  the  subject, — as,  in  the 
lower  study,  the  paleness  of  the  stamens  of  the  pink  in 


PLATE  XII. — LIGHT  AND  SUADE  WITH  REFUSAL  OF  COLOR. 

PETAL-VAU/T  OF  SCARLET  (JERANIOI.     SCHOOLS  OF 

ST.  GEORGE,  ELEMENTARY  DRAWING. 


X.   OF  LIGHT   AND  SHADE.  159 


relation  to  its  petals, — use  the  pen  only  for  fine  outline, 
as  in  Plate  XII. ;  and  when  that  is  perfectly  dry,  com- 
plete the  light  and  shade  with  as  few  washes  as  possible. 

33.  It  is  also  to  be  noted  that  a  dark  background  is  ad- 
missible only,  in  chiaroscuro  study,  when  you  intend  to 
refuse  all  expression  of  color,  and  to  consider  the  object 
as  if  it  were  a  piece  of  sculpture  in  white  marble.     To 
illustrate  this  point  more  strongly,  I  have  chosen  for  the 
chiaroscuro  plate,  XII. ,  a  cluster  of  scarlet  geranium  ;  in 
which  the  abstraction  of  the  form  from  the  color  brings 
out  conditions  of  grace  and  balance  in  the  blossom  which 
the  force  of  the  natural  color  disguised.     On  the  other 
hand,  when  the  rich  crimson  of  the  Clarissa  flower  (Plate 
VIII.)  is  to  be  shown  in  opposition  to  the  paler  green  of 
its  stamens,  I  leave  the  background  pure  white.      The 
upper  figure  in  the  same  plate  being  studied  for  form  only, 
admits  any  darkness  of  background  which  may  relieve  the 
contour  on  the  light  side. 

34.  The  method  of  study  which  refuses  local  color, 
partly  by  the  apparent    dignity  and  science  of  it,   and 
partly  by  the  feverish  brilliancy  of  effect  induced,  in  en- 
graving, by  leaving  all  the  lights  white,  became  the  pre- 
ferred method  of  the  schools  of  the  Renaissance,  headed 
by  Leonardo  :    and  it  was  both  familiarized  and  perpetu- 
ated by  the  engravings  of  Durer  and  Marc  Antonio.     It 
has  been  extremely  mischievous  in  this  supremacy  ;  but 
the  technical  mischief  of  it  is  so  involved  with   moral 
faults  proceeding  from  far  other  causes,  that  I  must  not 
here  attempt  its  analysis.     Every  student  ought,  however, 
to  understand,  and  sometimes  to  use,  the  method  ;  but 
all  main  work  is  to  be  with  the  severest  respect  to  local 
color,  and  with  pure  white  background. 


160  THE   LAWS   OF  FESOLE. 

35.  Note    yet  once  more.      Although  for  facility  of 
work,  when  form  alone  is  needed,  the  direction  of  the 
pen-stroke  is  to  be  disregarded,  yet,   if  texture,  or  any 
organic  character  in  the  surface  of  the  object,  be  mani- 
fest,  the  direction  or  manner  of  breaking,   in  the  pen 
touch,  may  pleasantly  comply  with  such  character,  and 
suggest  it.      The  plate  of  Contorta  Purpurea  (VII.   in 
Proserpina)  is  thus  engraved  with  the  double  intention  of 
expressing  the  color  of  the  flower  and  the  texture  of  the 
leaf,  and  may  serve  for  enough  example  in  this  particu- 
lar ;  but  it  is  always  to  be  remembered  that  such  expedi- 
ents are  only  partial  and  suggestive,  and  that  they  must 
never  be  allowed  to    waste   time,    or  distract   attention. 
Perfect  rendering  of  surface  can  only  be  given  by  perfect 
painting,  and  in  all  elementary  work  the  student  should 
hold  himself  well  disengaged  from  serfdom  to  a  particular 
method.     As  long  as  he  can  get  more  truths  in  a  given 
time,  by  letting  his  pen-point  move  one  way  rather  than 
another,  he  should  let  it  easily  comply  with  the  natural 
facts, — but  let  him  first  be  quite  sure  he  sees  the  facts  to 
be  complied  with.     It  is  proper  to  follow  the  striae  of  an 
ophrys  leaf  with  longitudinal  touches,  but  not,  as  vulgar 
engravers,  to  shade  a  pearl  with  concentric  circles. 

36.  Note,  finally,  that  the  degree  of  subtlety  in  obser- 
vation and  refinement  of  line  which  the  student  gives  to 
these  incipient  drawings  must  be  regulated  in  great  de- 
gree by  his  own  sense  and  feeling,  with  due  relation  to 
the  natural  power  of  his  sight  :    and  that  his  discretion 
and  self-command  are  to  be  shown  not  more  in  the  perse- 
verance of  bestowing  labor  to  profit,  than  in  the  vigilance 
for  the  instant  when  it  should  cease,  and  obedience  to 
the  signals  for  its  cessation.     The  increasing  power  of 


X.   OF  LIGHT  AND   SHADE.  161 

finish  is  always  a  sign  of  progress  ;  but  the  most  zealous 
student  must  often  be  content  to  do  little  ;  and  the  great- 
est observe  the  instant  when  he  can  do  no  more. 

37.  The  careless  and  insolent  manners  of  modern  art 
study,  (for  the  most  part,)  forbid  me  the  dread  of  o*er- 
insistance  on  minutiae  of  practice  ;    but  I  have  not,  for 
such  reason,  added  to  the  difficulty  or  delicacy  of  the  ex- 
ercises given.     On  the  contrary,  they  are  kept,  by  con- 
sistent attention,  within  the  easy  reach  of  healthy  youth- 
ful hand  and  sight ;  and  they  are  definitely  representative 
of  what  should  properly  be  done  in  drawings,  as  distin- 
guished from  the  qualities  attainable  by  the  consummate 
line-engraver.     As  an  example  of  what,  in  that  more  sub- 
tle kind,  the  human  eye  and  finger  can  accomplish  by 
severe  industry,  every  town  library  ought  to  possess,  and 
make  conveniently  accessible  to  its  students,  the  great  bo- 
tanical series  of  the  Florae  Danicae.     The  drawings  for 
the  numbers  produced  before  the  year  1820  were  in  better 
taste,  and  the  engravings  more   exemplary   in   manner, 
than  in  the  supplementary  numbers  lately  in  course  of 
publication  :    but  the  resolute  and  simple  effort  for  excel- 
lence is  unfailing  throughout  ;  and  for  precision  and  pa- 
tience of  execution,  the  nine  plates,  27M  to  2753,  may  be 
safely  taken  as  monumental  of  the  honor,  grace,  and,  in 
the  most  solemn  sense,  majesty,  of  simple  human  work,* 
maintained  amidst  and  against  all  the  bribes,  follies,  and 
lasciviousness  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

38.  Together  with  these,  and  other  such  worthily  exe- 

*  With  truly  noble  pride,  neither  the  draughtsman  nor  the  engraver 
have  set  their  names  to  the  plates.  "  We  are  Men,"  they  say,  "  with 
the  hearts  and  hands  of  Men.  That  is  all  you  need  know.  Our  names 
are  nothing  to  you." 


162  THE   LAWS  OF  FE*SOLE. 

cuted  illustrations  of  natural  history,  every  public  institu- 
tion should  possess  several  copies  of  the  '  Tresor  Artistique 
de  la  France, '  now  publishing  in  Paris.  It  contains  repre- 
sentations, which  no  mechanical  art  can  be  conceived  ever 
likeiy  to  excel,  of  some  of  the  best  ornamental  designs  ex- 
isting ;  with  others,  (I  regret  to  observe,  as  yet,  much  the 
plurality,)  of  Renaissance  jewellery,  by  which  the  foulness 
and  dulness  of  the  most  reputed  masters  of  that  epoch 
are  illustrated  with  a  force  which  has  not  hitherto  been 
possible.  The  plates,  which  represent  design  of  the 
greater  ages,  more  especially  those  of  the  Boite  d'Evan- 
geliaire  of  St.  Denis,  with  the  brooch  and  cassette  of  St. 
Louis,  had  better  be  purchased  by  those  of  my  students 
who  can  afford  the  cost ;  and  with  these,  also,  the  un- 
colored  plates  of  the  Coffret  a  Bijoux  of  Anne  of  Austria, 
which  is  exemplary  of  the  best  Renaissance  .wreathen 
work.  The  other  pieces  of  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cen- 
tury toys,  given  in  this  publication,  are  all  of  them  lead- 
ing examples  of  the  essential  character  of  Renaissance 
art, — the  pride  of  Thieves,  adorned  by  the  industiy  of 
Fools,  under  the  mastership  of  Satyrs.  As  accurately 
representative  of  these  mixtures  of  betise  with  abomina- 
tion, the  platter  and  ewer  executed  in  Germany,  as  an 
offering  to  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  on  his  victory  at  Tu- 
nis, are  of  very  notable  value  :  but  a  more  terrific  lesson 
may  be  read  in  the  ghastly  and  senseless  Gorgons  of  the 
armor  of  Henrv  II. ,  if  the  student  of  history  remember, 
in  relation  to  them,  the  entertainment  with  which  he 
graced  his  Queen's  coronation  ;  and  the  circumstances  of 
his  own  death. 

39.  The  relations  between  the  rich  and  poor,  on  which 
the  pomp  of  this  Renaissance  art  was  founded,  may  be 


X.    OF  LIGHT  AND  SHADE.  163 

sufficiently  illustrated  by  two  short  passages,  almost  con- 
secutive, in  (  Evelyn 's  Diary  '  : 

"11  May  (1651).— To  the  Palace  Cardinal,  where  ye 
Mr.  of  Ceremonies  plac'd  me  to  see  ye  royal  masque  or 
opera.  The  first  sceane  represented  a  chariot  of  singers 
compos'd  of  the  rarest  voices  that  could  be  procur'd,  rep- 
resenting Cornaro  and  Temperance  ;  this  was  overthrowne 
by  Bacchus  and  his  Revellers  ;  the  rest  consisted  of  sev- 
eral enterics  and  pageants  of  excesse,  by  all  the  Elements. 
A  masque  representing  fire  was  admirable  ;  then  came  a 
Tenus  out  of  ye  clouds.  The  conclusion  was  an  heaven, 
whither  all  ascended.  But  the  glory  of  the  masque  was 
the  greate  persons  performing  in  it  :  the  French  King, 
his  brother  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  with  all  the  grandees  of 
the  Court,  the  King  performing  to  the  admiration  of  all. 
The  music  was  29  violins,  vested  a  Vantiq,  but  the  habits 
of  the  masquers  were  stupendiously  rich  and  glorious. 


"  29  January. — I  sat  out  in  a  coach  for  Calais,  in  an 
exceeding  hard  frost,  which  had  continued  some  time. 
We  got  that  night  to  Beaumont  ;  30,  to  Beauvais ;  31, 
we  found  the  ways  very  deepe  wth  snow,  and  it  was  ex- 
ceeding cold  ;  din'd  at  Pois  ;  lay  at  Pernee,  a  miserable 
cottage  of  miserable  people  in  a  wood,  wholly  unfur- 
nished, but  in  a  little  time  we  had  sorry  beds  and  some 
provision,  wch  they  told  me,  they  hid  in  ye  wood  for  f eare 
of  the  frontier  enemy,  the  garisons  neere  them  continually 
plundering  what  they  had.  They  were  often  infested 
with  wolves.  I  cannot  remember  that  I  ever  saw  more 
miserable  creatures." 

40.  It  is  not,  I  believe,  without  the  concurrence  of  the 


164:  THE   LAWS   OF   FESOLE. 

noblest  Fors,  that  I  have  been  compelled,  in  my  reference 
to  this  important  French  series  of  illustrative  art,  to  lead 
the  student's  attention  forward  into  some  of  the  higher  sub- 
jects of  reflection,  which  for  the  most  part  I  reserve  for  the 
closing  volume  of  the  Laws  of  Fesole.  Counting  less  than 
most  men,  what  future  days  may  bring  or  deny  to  me, 
I  am  thankful  to  be  permitted,  in  the  beginning  of  a  New 
Year  of  which  I  once  little  thought  to  see  the  light,  to 
repeat,  with  all  the  force  of  which  my  mind  is  yet  capa- 
ble, the  lesson  I  have  endeavored  to  teach  through  my 
past  life,  that  this  fair  Tree  Igdrasil  of  Human  Art  can 
only  flourish  when  its  dew  is  Affection  ;  its  air,  Devotion  ; 
the  rock  of  its  roots,  Patience  ;  and  its  sunshine,  God. 


END    OF    VOL.    I. 


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